


Dear Mr Fantasy

by Learlorde



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Endgame fix it, F/M, Family, Feels, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Happy Ending, Healing, Hurt Tony Stark, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, Moving On, No Slash, No Smut, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sad with a Happy Ending, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-05-18 18:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19340491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Learlorde/pseuds/Learlorde
Summary: What if the time heist went a little differently? What if the Avengers found a way to get the Soul Stone without losing a friend? What if this led to a fight with Thanos that made Tony go to the airport in Germany in 2016 to save himself. What if this resulted in Tony living after Endgame. Just an Endgame that's a little different. Hope you enjoy it.





	1. Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR NOTES
> 
> I got a lot of great ideas for this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

Taking a nuke through a wormhole...feeling the crushing, absolute zero of space and staring into the void of darkness as the conquest of Earth reigned was something Tony never wanted to face again. For a while, after New York, it became only a nightmare, but the paranoia nailed itself into the billionaire's everyday life and it soon grew into his focus and drive. The future was what the Avengers were to protect, but that future fell between their fingers as ash. How was this their legacy? Tony was able to ponder this as he sat at a table and watched the abyss of space engulf the Benetar. That was all he could really do to pass the time; drowned in his failure, teach Nebula paper football, and be plagued with horrendous pain from the stab wound Thanos treated the Avenger with.

Tony rested his chin in his propped palm on the tabletop. He gazed at the Ironman helmet and hardly recognized the colorful streaks of light which passed the ship as the Benatar traveled at an incomprehensible speed. There was only one person that was on his mind and that was Pepper...however, occasionally he wondered if Rhodey was still alive or how the remaining Avengers bid against Thanos. That was another way to occupy his time, in addition to the recordings that he started. "Pepper..." Tony breathed, still trying to gain control of his pain. The binding agent he had used to temporarily seal the wound was doing its job of holding the damage together, but the pain reliever was beginning to take a back seat. "It's day two since... _he_  happened. I'm not really sure what to say...this may have left me speechless, but this isn't the first time I've gone missing, so I'm sure I'll figure something out. Nebula says we have to take a detour to another planet to get enough fuel to make it to Earth." Tony pressed his palm against his forehead upon feeling his body shake from sitting for too long. He really needed to lay down... "If we get lucky, it'll be another couple of days before I come home..." If he was alive by the time he reached home. "Listen, Pepper...I..." The thought of telling Pepper about his injury crept on Tony, but he didn't know if he could bring himself to tell his fiancee that he was dying. "I've been messing around with the ship's transmitter, hoping at some point it'll reach Earth, but nothing yet...I hope I hear from you soon, though...I love you," he finished before turning off the recording with a sigh.

When the helmet ceased of light, Tony examined it briefly, wondering how it all went wrong. Gripping the table, Tony painfully staggered to his feet, but he didn't make it too far; just to a bench where he allowed himself to lay down and close his eyes, feeling as if this was his punishment for failure, frozen in this misery for all eternity.

* * *

**THE QUINJET**

The Earth was tainted quiet, silently weeping in accord to the tragedy that struck. Any speck of hope had been sucked into a realm unreachable to the haunted souls that survived. The Avengers mournfully sat in the center or the wings of the Quinjet as it soared over the beautiful, yet suffering planet of Earth which now laid under both spilled blood and dust. Unbearable anguish flooded the aircraft as they achingly left Wakanda behind to return home to America. For about seventy-two hours, the Avengers stayed to help the Wakandans clear the battlefield of those who were killed before the Snap and whatever debris there was. Okoye was trying to figure out how to lead her country forward as the entire royal family had fallen from the Snap.

In fact, the entire world was trying to make sense of what happened and how to pick up the pieces to keep the world going round. Whoever was left in the United Nations were scrambling to get a count of those that remained once the world was informed about Thanos. The world was an overwhelming mess now and the best anybody could do was return home and do what they could to help with clean up and get aid to those who needed it. They needed to figure out if there were officers left, doctors, construction workers, farmers who grew their food, and even animals that helped the ecosystems...everything on the Earth relied on each other for life and now half of all living things were gone...

Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey, Rocket, and Thor, in their moments of despair, didn't speak any words. They sat there together, feeling nothing but death in their grasp. It didn't matter how strong they were or how strong they pretended to be; tears welled in their eyes. A hole rested in their hearts, and it was something far more significant than they'd ever felt. Not even the worst of the past could level the catastrophe and misery that had disintegrated all happiness, laughter, and light. Never had they lost before, and it was a living hell. Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and Vision were gone... and the only thing they had was Vision's cold and colorless corpse lying under a sheet. When it was over, they'd spent a long time trying to call everyone they knew, in a frenzy to see what more people they lost. But the phones were quiet now, and there was nothing more to do...it was over, everybody was gone...they were all  _gone_.

Rocket sat near the right side of the cockpit as Rhodey piloted the Quinjet. Being in an aircraft was something Rocket was familiar with, but he felt quite alone as he gazed at his reflection in the glass as the sun disappeared. The feeling of sorrow and alienation rolled over in his head and he tried remembering the last time he felt like this. Perhaps being experimented on, but...not knowing whether his friends were alive or not; that cut deep. However, so far, he was getting along with the humans, nevertheless, everybody was still trying to stomach what had happened three days ago. Rocket gazed around at each person, all of them keeping silent and to themselves. Briefly, Rocket made eye contact with Thor who sat in the left-wing, but the Asgardian shamefully looked elsewhere. Rocket knew the guilt that sat on the Avenger's shoulders, it rested on everyone's shoulders...they failed.

Bruce sat in one of the seats against the Quinjet's center table, while Steve and Natasha sat back to back at the center. They had finally heard from Clint who sounded as if his emotions were spiraling. After Natasha had calmed him the best she could over the phone, she had told him to meet the team back at the Compound. He had nowhere else to go and in such a grim state, he had made it to the eerie and empty halls of the Avengers' Compound. They traveled as fast as they could to their teammate, who waited alone.

"We've got about an hour and a half before we land," Rhodey murmured, breaking the dark quiet. He was still incredibly tense, considering contact to Pepper and Happy had failed, leaving the Avengers with the presumption that they were dead as well, and Tony...Tony was still nowhere to be found if he was still alive.

"Will you let Clint know, please," Natasha said meekly from where she sat, giving it her all to keep her fear and sadness pulled together.

"Yeah, I notified him not too long ago, but I don't know if he got the message..." the colonel responded and just in the next second, the Quinjet's comm systems started blinking from an incoming call. When Rhodey opened up the line, he answered, "Clint?"

 _"Rhodey, hey,"_  Clint's demeanor was still empty, but he sounded a little better than when they first spoke with him.  _"I got some good news, I found Pepper, she's with me now."_  That sentence was like a wave, washing relief among Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor. It was the best thing they had heard all day. Truth be told, what had happened between Tony and the Avengers regarding the Accords, it diminished entirely because in the end both Tony and Pepper were still part of their family. Hearing she was on the other end of the line with Clint was everything at the moment.

"We copy..." Rhodey sighed, almost pulled to tears. "Is...Pepper, are you okay?" Steve got to his feet, grabbing a handle to hold onto as he stood in the left side of the cockpit next to Rhodey.

 _"Yeah...we've uh...we've been in New York City a lot,"_  Pepper reprieved and all Rhodey could do was dip his head at the heavy sullen of her voice.  _"There's quite some damage after people started disappearing...cars, boats, and subways were crashing, planes were falling, people became stranded or trapped...whoever was left with Stark Industries...we're doing everything we can with whatever government, military officials, and first responders are left..."_

"I think...that's the best any of us can do right now," Steve meant to reassure, encouraging Pepper's efforts, knowing that some people who didn't vanish probably died from the accident injuries.

 _"I tried calling sooner, but some of the power grids were down,"_  Pepper said,  _"are you all okay?"_

"Physically, yes," Rhodey uttered frankly, "Mentally, I'm not so sure." The assumption was well accurate as Natasha, Bruce, and Thor sat defeated, heads hanging and hands folded tightly together as they listened to the conversation while Steve and Rocket held their positions beside Rhodey. There was a sickening moment lingering as Rhodey waited for Pepper to bring up Tony, but she was edging around that subject until she couldn't take it anymore.

 _"Rhodey, Happy is gone..."_  The CEO's voice cracked, struggling to get the words out, and Rhodey wished he could be there for her sooner because in no way was this going to turn out okay.  _"And Tony...I told him..."_  Their hearts sank further as the emotion kept creeping, in a denying yet realizing stance that Tony was probably gone, either killed or dusted.  _"Rhodey, I told him to get off that ship."_

Wiping the water from his eyes, Rhodey tried to honor what he said next, "...He was doing what he thought was right...he was trying to stop this." He paused for a moment, overwhelmed with grief as he shifted he gaze momentarily to a harrowing Bruce while Steve and Natasha exchanged a glance. "Where are you now?" He mumbled, returning his attention to the water below and the skies above.

 _"We're both at the Compound,"_  Clint affirmed.

"You should both stay there, we're less than an hour and a half away," Natasha chipped in, not wanting to lose anybody else, even if it was just for a second. "We'll be there soon."

"Alright, stay safe," the Archer replied worryingly.

"Same to you," Steve said before Rhodey ended the call.

* * *

**NEW YORK**

Whenever Pepper wasn't trying to help with the chaos, she hardly ate or slept. Most of the time she sat on the steps of the Compound's outdoor lounge, watching the skies and hoping she'd see an Earth-bound ship that had Tony safe and sound on it. Clint had gotten to the Compound first, mulling in the dread of losing his family, neighbors, friends...For some time he didn't care where the others were or what they were doing, all that clouded his mind was Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel. Then at some point, as he wandered the barren facility, he saw several photos of his teammates. All of them just being people, and after what happened between them, there was still a group photo in the study. Then his eyes found a picture of Tony and Pepper, and he remembered the many times the kids came to visit the Compound. Laura and Pepper got along really well together and when it ate at his soul, the Avenger decided to go find Pepper and there she was in the heat of everything trying to run Stark Industries' disaster relief. Seeing the good she was doing, he couldn't turn his back and spent the day together until they were told to get some rest.

So here they were, and when Clint saw Pepper sitting alone, he came outside and sat next to her on the stairs. As the sun dipped, the air chilled in the late April evening, but it didn't phase Pepper as she kept vigil. Clint looked her way and the looked in her eye, he knew it all too well from his own determination, but his light had died. They didn't know if Tony was dead or alive, but that fire was still in Pepper's eyes. "I hope he's alive," Clint said with a full heart and Pepper sympathetically looked at him.

"Thank you," she spoke graciously, appreciating his concern.

"What I feel now...I wish nobody would ever have to feel this way," he mustered with tears in his eyes, and it was followed by Pepper putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Even as the night prevailed and they were reunited with the remaining Avengers she didn't move, and by that time Rhodey brought a blanket out to her and sat with her for some time. At midnight, she and Rhodey both went inside where they ran into Rocket. "How's it coming, Rocket?" Rhodey asked.

"Well, we finally finished it. The transmitter is up and running in the Quinjet Hanger, so it's not up to us anymore, but hopefully, we can find my crew, Thor's missing Asgardians, and your missing man," Rocket explained more or less optimistically, handing Pepper a small device. "Here, if anything gets in the range of the transmitters, these little devices will let us know."

"Thank you," Pepper replied, accepting the device from the Guardian.

As he walked away, Pepper gave Rhodey an  _'I just spoke to a raccoon'_ look. "You'll get used to it, he kinda grows on you after a bit," is what Rhodey said as they finally went to their quarters to call it a night. No matter how hard she tried, sleep didn't come to her, and Pepper simply watched the device's light blue glow that made her think of Tony. But the device stayed hush until twenty-four hours later when it finally sounded through the sleeping Compound.

"We got a ship!" Rocket bellowed through the halls, which roused everyone because, in all honesty, they didn't yet know if this was one of Thanos' or a friendly.

Bruce was already in the Compound's Hanger with the raccoon as Pepper and Rhodey fleetly approached. "Pepper!" The sound of the scientist's voice and the look on his face said it all and Pepper didn't need to ask.

She felt her heart stop and all the air left her lungs as she halted beside Rocket's makeshift transmitter. "Tony?" She called gently, and as Natasha and Steve entered the hanger there was no answer. Pepper glanced concerningly at Bruce before asking again, "Tony?"

When he did speak, they realized it took him so long to respond because he had actually choked up on tears of joy. "I hear you loud and clear, Pep," Tony finally said with a controlled voice, and it was enough to make Pepper cry.

* * *

A crispness held in the air as Pepper, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey walked out onto the field when the building's structure began to shake. The silhouette of the enormous spaceship circled the property from the night sky to survey a place to land. Thor, Clint, and Rocket remained in the distance, just outside the Hanger doors and watched from afar, but it peaked Rocket's attention when he started to recognize the Benatar. His facial expressions slackened at the forbidding thought of the knowledge he was about to receive...the only person they had heard from on the ship was Tony, but even he was vague on all matters. It had taken about thirty minutes from first hearing Tony's voice to the actual occurrence of the Benatar finally landing on the damp grass.

When the ramp opened, the Avengers waited not far from the base, but upon seeing the woman helping Tony down the ramp, it was clear something was wrong. Steve started to feel his feet move and he approached Tony in the notion to help. The last time they had seen each other, it ended in an extremely emotional and tragic fight, but without a doubt, Steve still viewed Tony as a friend. He wasn't sure if Tony saw it the same way, but it didn't matter with how damaged Tony looked. Under the moonlight, some blood still clotted on the engineer's cuts or streaked along his jawline. It seemed most of the team came out unscathed compared to Tony. "Hey," Tony muttered quietly, hardly able to look at Steve as the super-soldier offered himself as a crutch.

"Hey," Steve responded crucially, seeing the exhaustion and possible pain that rendered Tony. Nebula released Tony's arm when Steve came to escort the injured man down the ramp. Observing Tony for a second, Steve was about to ask what had happened because from what the Captain gathered, the Ironman was struggling just to stand.

"He was impaled by Thanos," Nebula spoke, which made Steve look over his shoulder at her before snapping his attention back to Tony in growing horror because the genius wasn't denying the statement.

"Can you make it to the Compound?" Steve asked because he could feel Tony's muscle's trembling and could hear his shallow breaths.

"I think so," Tony murmured, but that was before he realized he hadn't walked a distance from the field to the hanger in four days. In fact, he had hardly gotten up at all while on the Benatar, it required too much energy; energy he did not have after what Thanos put him through. In addition, he may or may not have been seeing black patches in his vision, but he couldn't differentiate with it being night, but he also had refused to eat due to the pain.

There was at least some relief when Pepper came up to Tony, but she looked petrified at his condition. "Pepper," Tony grimaced when she gently hugged him. Tony felt his heart racing painfully as it tried keeping him stable, but his body continued to grow heavier. He thought he'd be able to do it, to walk into the Compound, but he had only taken three more steps until he hit his brick wall. Natasha, Rhodey, and Bruce sauntered over when Tony purposely sat down on the blades of grass, incapacitated with exhaustion.

"Tony,  _Tony,_ " Pepper urgently conveyed when Tony let go of her hand and laid on his side without a word. The flashlight from a phone turned on as Tony's wound was quickly looked at, which was followed by some dreadful reactions to the enlightenment Tony might be the next friend they wouldn't be able to save.


	2. Without Our World

Thunder crackled without there being any sight of rain, and it simply added to the eerie mood that lingered after Thanos had snapped his fingers and left through a portal to the abyss. Darkness had swallowed up any source of light in that heartbeat as many people began turning to dust. Confused and fearful screams echoed through the stale air, but they plummeted until the world seemed a wasteland of silence. By the time the Avengers had sifted through the chaos, it was clear that while governments and countries were in pieces, killing fifty percent of all life randomly meant that only a few people may remain in one country while a different country may still have many of its citizens. At the end of the first day, they realized most of Wakanda's people were gone. Due to that, the Avengers stayed to help the remaining Wakandans learn to survive without the fellowship of their country. The Avengers even traveled to neighboring countries to help anybody that they could.

That's why they were out of options with Wakanda when the team realized how bad Tony's condition was. With no doctors at the Compound, or therefore, no doctors in the surrounding areas and no theory on how many doctors survived the Snap, Natasha and Bruce set up blankets on an examination table in the infirmary. Tony laid on it on his right side with his shirt rolled up to his chest and with a blanket over his legs, resting his head on the edge of a pillow and facing the door since the stab wound ran through his left side. He was hooked up to IVs while holding onto an oxygen mask he was given.

Pepper had wiped a lot of the fresh and dried blood off his back and abdomen with alcohol wipes, exposing many of the severe bruises that clung to his upper body. She cleaned off the most she could and got as close as she could to the bloody incision which was still temporarily held together by the suit's binding agent. However, the binding agent only went on twelve-hour intervals until it began to dissolve. Luckily, Tony was able to reapply it until the suit finally ran out of the binding agent while on the Benatar. It had been ten hours since then and only about forty-five minutes since the Golden Avenger had been back on Earth, to which blood was seeping from the wound at a quickening pace. Gauze were taped on Tony's abdomen to slow the bleeding the best the Avengers could, but blood loss was increasing as fast as the binding agent was dissolving.

Meanwhile, Rhodey watched his best friend worryingly while Steve, Natasha, and Bruce looked over the x-rays and internal images of the damage. Clint was elsewhere in the Compound, still trying to wrap his head around the events of the last four days, which was fine by the group if he needed to sort out his emotions. The Archer was also the one keeping them all up to date on the world via social media while the others were dealing with Tony. On the other hand, Tony didn't look too good, he was weak and exhausted, and he hadn't eaten anything since the injury, only drank water or sipped on broth. Too much of their surprise, though, he was still conscious, although barely responsive, both from the effects of the injury and the morphine Bruce gave him. His eyes were cracked open and he mostly stared at the floor while he breathed shallowly. Pepper held Tony's hand as she sat beside him, but he was so out of it and so tired that he didn't even close his hand around hers.

The moment Tony had been reunited with the Avengers, there wasn't much information shared. They saw Tony's condition and hardly had the time to ask questions as their priority became getting Tony help. All they knew was that Peter and Strange didn't make it and that Thanos is what happened to Tony. Reciprocation of who the Avengers lost was unnecessary to tell as Tony was quick to understand that Sam, Wanda, and Vision were gone by their absence.

Thor approached Steve, Natasha, and Bruce just outside the room Tony was in as they discussed what to do about the injury since they had no immediate help. "Hey," Steve said to the Asgardian as he joined them.

"How's Tony doing? Is he awake?" Thor asked, gazing past the glass walls and the holographic medical charts and images to check on Tony.

"He's been in and out of it," Bruce murmured, keeping his voice down. "Tony's condition is serious, it's not looking good."

"I would like to know if he knows where Thanos went, " Thor enlightened in a defeated and vengeful manner as he headed towards the room.

"I really don't think now's the time," Bruce quickly told.

Steve then gently put a hand on Thor's shoulder. "Thor, hang on a second," the super-soldier urged sensitively.

Thor turned slightly to look at his friend. "Look at what he did to him," Thor said, looking extremely broken and enraged while indicating to Tony. "I can't let anybody else die, I can't take losing anymore. Nebula may have a location for Thanos, but it's a fifty-fifty chance. It's just one question I need to ask Tony."

Understanding Thor's grief, rage, and failure, Steve pulled his hand off Thor and the Avenger lightly entered the room with Steve, Natasha, and Bruce hovering by the door. Although, Clint leisurely approached with a tablet and Natasha glanced at him briefly. "Tony," Thor spoke, exchanging a swift and respectful gaze with Pepper afterward. The billionaire blinked and looked up at the Asgardian with bloodshot eyes.

"...good to see you," Tony groused, cracking the oxygen mask slightly so Thor could understand him. In all truth, Tony hadn't seen Thor since after Ultron which was three years ago now, and from the last time he talked with Bruce, he thought Thor was dead...the entire team had. In fact, Tony felt quite relieved seeing all of them after what he had experienced on Titan.

"Same to you," Thor replied with sincerity after what he had witnessed himself. "Tony, did Thanos tell you anything that might suggest where he was going?" He asked, and the rest of the group listened intently to hear Tony's hush voice.

Tony painfully sighed, "There were some things he said to me...but nothing..for your location." The abundant of white gauze covering the incision were finally turning red little by little as they were talking, both the front side and the backside.

"What kind of things?" Thor questioned, thinking that there had to at least be some lead.

There was a haunted and intimidating glare that hardened in Tony's eye that sent a ghostly chill through the group, and it was understood that Tony couldn't and wouldn't talk about it any further at the moment. "Don't go after him," the engineer warned, almost pleadingly.

Thor considered this, but couldn't accept it. "He's going to die for all of this," Thor grumbled, fleetly walking out of the room.

Trying to protest, Tony meant to prop himself on an elbow but stopped when he yelped and laid a hand on the wound. Pepper grabbed him to stop him, while Rhodey scolded Tony with fear, "You stay there!" Tony remained frozen in pain for a long moment, breathing heavily and making Bruce come over to him while Steve and Natasha attempted to stop Thor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Steve asked concerningly, blocking the Asgardian's path.

"To kill Thanos," he answered, putting his hands on Steve's biceps and maneuvering to switch places with him so the Captain no longer stopped his path.

"I'll go with you," Clint was quick to jump in, looking fired up.

Natasha's attention shot towards Clint upon hearing his eagerness for the suicide mission. "No!" She snapped back in bewilderment. "Nobody's going anywhere," the Avenger commanded strongly.

With an impatient and emotional huff, Thor shifted his eyes from Natasha to Steve. "I lost my mother, and then my father, then I lost my sister, then I lost Asgard, then Thanos kill the half of us that were left," the Asgardians voice was straining. The infirmary light's were dimmed to see Tony's scans, but even in the lack of light, tears could be seen glinting in Thor's eyes as Steve, Natasha, and Clint shut up and tragically listened. "And then he killed my brother...and then, and then, and then...So, tell me, Steve, when do I stop losing? I'm an Avenger who's not avenging." Those words rang deep and Steve could see the hollowed pain as Thor took a few agitated steps back and forth.

"You've been through a lot...we get it," Steve look at his fellow Avenger with consolation, hoping he could stop the Thunder God from making a rash mistake. A decision that could turn deadly if Thanos decided to use the stones again. "But look at what he did," the soldier said, gesturing over his shoulder to Tony laying bloody, beaten, and wavering close to death on that table. "We are a heaping mess right now. Believe me, I want to go after him too, but we can't right now." There was nothing more that Steve wanted than to give Thanos what was coming to him. Steve was a fair and honorable person who had standards, and most enemies he faced, he did his best to show grace and mercy, but Thanos had crossed the line. Even as his anger converted to rage, Steve knew the team needed to keep a level head or all was lost. "We just can't, so please...don't go. We'll figure out a counterattack plan, I promise."

"Thor..." Natasha gingerly proclaimed after Thor thought over what Steve had said, "We can't lose anymore either. That includes you." The Asgardian gazed at Natasha and acknowledged the raw and genuine emotions she was expressing. He hung his head, conflicted and ashamed, but then Natasha tenderly pulled him into a hug.

"What are you doing?" Thor whispered.

With both a dreaded and humorous answer, Natasha said, "Giving you a fucking hug, what does it look like?" It took a long moment, but Thor eventually embraced the hug with one hand while Steve approached them and put a comforting hand on the Asgardian's shoulder.

"Tell me you're not going to go," Natasha pleaded.

"I'm not going to go," Thor murmured, accepting the kindness of his friendships left on Earth. "Stark, I'm sorry," he said openly as he gawked at Tony, apologizing for provoking the genius to try stopping Thor.

When they looked towards the room, they saw Rhodey and Bruce with their hands on Tony. "Guys!" Bruce frantically cried,  _"Help!"_

Panic plagued them as Steve rushed over with Natasha and Thor close behind him, the medical alarms increasing in volume as they reached the room. "Uh, no...he's unconscious?" Steve verbalized, standing off to Bruce's right side. Tony eyes were closed as he laid limp and unresponsive. Red streaked the downed Avenger's exposed skin underneath the towels that Rhodey and Bruce, together, roughly held in place against the front and back incision. Pepper stood near the wall by the door, witnessing in horror until Clint grabbed her wrist and lead her out of the room in case they weren't able to save Tony, and in all honesty...things were grim.

"He tore what little binding agent was left when he moved, and this bleeding is getting worse by the minute," the scientist informed with trepidation treading on his voice. He glanced at Steve with dismay while he continued to put pressure on Tony's wound. "Steve, I need you to run to the development lab and see if Tony kept any more of that binding agent there. If you need help, just ask F.R.I.D.A.Y." With a stressful swallow, Bruce took an anxious breath and his fear was spreading to the soldier, as well as Natasha who came up beside Steve to listen to Bruce's orders. "You need to hurry, at this rate that binding agent is our only hope. Tony  _will_  die without it." Understanding the emergency of the situation, Steve, without another moment, sped off hastily. "Nat, go with him, it could be in different labs," Bruce urgently snipped over his shoulder at her and the assassin followed Steve quickly.

Off to Bruce's other side, Thor stood. "Is there anything I can do?" He complied, not in the state of mind to handle losing another friend either, and if they did, nothing could stop him from going after Thanos.

"Tony needs blood," Bruce mumbled after occupying a minute to think, but he more so talked to himself than to the others around him. "Thor, here. Take my place, put pressure on the bleeding." Clasping Thor's hand, Bruce showed him exactly what to do since medical knowledge wasn't the Asgardian's strong suit. "I'm going to get blood," he said, leaving the room. Pepper and Clint eyed Bruce's blood-stained hands and the few smudges of scarlet on his shirt as he passed them by.

On his way back to Tony, Bruce met with Steve and Natasha in the hallway. He looked at them with apprehension, not knowing if they were successful or not. "We struck gold," Steve alleviated, holding up a small device that looked like a laser pointer. Relief, for the moment, filled Bruce's physic. Holding onto the 'binding pen' while Bruce held the blood unit, the three of them returned to the room, and it was quite soothing to see that Tony was still alive. Rhodey and Thor hadn't moved from their positions, but the towels they had didn't look very white anymore.

As Bruce quickly hooked the blood unit to Tony's IV, Steve meant to hand the binding pen to Rhodey. "I can't take it, he's bleeding too bad," Rhodey panted nervously, not removing his hands from his best friend he was trying to save. "Figure out how to use that thing and I'll move the towel little by little as you apply it. Got it?" Rhodey pressed, and Steve comprehended the plan with a nod. He went off to a nearby table to learn how to operate the pen while Natasha grabbed more towels. On Thor's side, together, they slowly replaced the bloody towel with the clean one and Thor accommodatingly stepped back so Natasha could take over, to which she put pressure on the wound's front opening.

When Steve finally began applying the binding agent, Bruce hovered near his shoulder, watching closely because Steve's hand was trembling lightly. Everybody was silent, holding their breath, and feeling their hearts race as they watched the process of closing the wound alongside listening to the beeping of Tony's lowering heart rate. "Clint, talk to me," Bruce said, glancing outside the room towards Clint and Pepper, "How's the search coming?"

A despondent look crossed Clint's face as he held onto a tablet with all their information. "Still a negative," he answered, walking into the room and approaching Bruce. "Through social media, it looks like there are several aid groups forming based on occupation or skill category by which citizens need and it's organized by location too. In the highest demand are surgeons, doctors, pilots, and first responders. It seems like a lot of the east coast has been wiped out of surgeons and those that have survived already have crowds of people waiting."

"Are they first come first serve systems?" Pepper asked with a quivering tone as she leaned against the door frame. She looked pale and almost faint.

"Some are, but others are tending to serious trauma first," Clint answered

"This _is_  serious trauma," Rhodey mentioned forcefully, glaring over at Clint.

They all knew it wasn't Clint's fault, he was just the guy holding the tablet. The tension of Tony dying on the table, though, didn't help simmer the sharp remarks. "Can you post the charts or information about the trauma?" Bruce advised, giving Clint as much detail as he could, even though many of them had heard about damage and had seen the damage. "He was impaled through the upper abdomen, it's a massive stab wound," Bruce fumed, nearly yelling until his voice cracked from the stress. "What part of that doesn't sound serious?"

"Bruce," Clint scowled, suddenly sharing as much despair and desperation as the rest of them. "The nearest trauma surgeon is in North Carolina and he says without a second surgeon, a team of doctors, and way to get to New York, he can't fix this." The group were doing what they could to let that information settle, all while trying to seal the wound. North Carolina was halfway down the United States' east coastline and was no way accessible at the moment. "There's nobody here right now, _nobody_  is coming," Clint was brutally honest and disheartened to say those harsh words as Bruce cursed at their harrowing situation, "We're on our own."


	3. Another Day

The lights weren't too bright as Tony cracked open his eyes and the worldly colors reached his iris. An uncomfortable pressure rested on the downed Avenger's chest, and he wanted to place a hand on his heart in response, but he still felt disoriented and was too exhausted to immediately move. He groggily blinked to try clearing the blur from his vision, but every time he closed his eyes, Thanos was there crushing Tony beneath a moon or penetrating that sword through his abdomen. As the genius began coming to his senses though, it started coming back to him. Tony remembered jolting in panic after Thor said he was going to kill Thanos and after that, he remembered a lot of blood... Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce were over him, putting their hands on him and repeatedly calling his name, but he could no longer resist closing his eyes.

A soft blanket covered him as he remained in the same position before he lost consciousness, still on his right side on a table, although his oxygen mask was gone. It was nice, though, that they had gotten him blankets to lay on and a pillow. Tony thought about it for a moment, the fact that his teammates were there for him despite their fallout with the Accords. Not that what happened still didn't sting to an extent because there was a part of Tony that was upset that they weren't there when he needed them the most on Titan. The Avengers may have been there now, but it was already too late, they lost. Steve told Tony that whenever the Iron Man needed Captain America, they would be there, but they weren't when it counted. They could've prevented this...Tony's lingering mind drifted to Peter and Tony could almost feel the kid still clinging onto him.

The sound of crunching broke Tony's train of thought and he shifted his gaze to see Steve sitting in a chair against the glass door wall, eating what looked to be cereal. The soldier was unaware that Tony was awake, continuing to look at his tablet as he ate. "What are you eating?" Tony hoarsely asked, returning his gaze to the opposite door wall to keep from straining himself since Steve sat a little off to the right, past Tony's head.

Steve pulled his sight from the tablet and gawked across the short gap between where he sat and where Tony laid on the table. There was some hidden relief in his face as he simply replied, "Cereal. We have to use up the milk before it goes bad. Who knows when we'll get milk again after all of this." The soldier got up and set the bowl on the counter. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, notify Bruce, please," he whispered before walking in front of Tony. Observing his friend for a moment, it was starting to weigh on the Avenger, seeing Tony like this. The billionaire was very still and his eyes mostly remained shut from fatigue, even as Steve came beside him, Tony didn't make any effort to look up. "Hey..." The super soldier rested his lower back against the table and looked Tony in the eyes. The engineer didn't make eye contact as he was still hazy, but Steve realized he was listening. "You've been unconscious for about nine hours," he gently explained as Bruce quietly approached, "last night, was uh..." Steve dipped his head. "It was a close call, you lost a lot of blood."

"Hey," Bruce said, standing beside Steve with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," Tony responded weakly, before adding wholeheartedly, "Thanks for saving me for another day."

Bruce and Steve exchanged a glance. Those words were gripping, and they made Bruce feel a mild lump in his throat as he thought about how bad and surreal their situation was after Thanos. "You don't have to..." Bruce looked down for a moment, shaking his head before looking at Tony again. "You'd do exactly the same if it was the other way around." After Bruce glanced at Tony from head to toe, he sighed, "Is there anything I can get you?" It was pretty obvious that Tony was starving, but there wasn't much they could do.

"I can't eat anything..." Tony mustered.

"I know..." the scientist murmured sympathetically. "We're doing everything we can to find you a surgeon, Tony, but after the Snap, there's not much luck. We're laying out our options if worse comes to worst."

Tony mumbled, "Mkay," which was all he could really do...accept the reality of their situation... _his_  situation, which he realized was a lot of other peoples situation too. "I want to get up, though, if I can," he said, "I'm sick of laying here." Steve and Bruce looked at each other, worried. "Please."

With Bruce and Steve on either side of him, Tony achingly put pressure on his elbow to push himself upright. After he had his hand propped underneath him, he suddenly felt hot and cold. The room slightly spun and he had to let himself collapse back onto his elbow. "Take it easy," Bruce coached, putting a comforting hand on Tony's back as the billionaire hung his head, out of breath. "It's okay if you need to lay back down," Bruce reassured his friend, knowing that Tony was suffering from pain, blood loss, and days of hunger.

"Don't push yourself," Steve said, but then Tony motioned with his finger for Steve to come closer. When Steve did, Tony used the soldier's arm to pull himself up with one hand while he pushed himself upright with his other hand. It worked like a charm because after a grimace and a sharp wince, Tony yanked himself upright. However, he slouched and rested his forehead against his propped knee while panting heavily. Steve grabbed him some water, while Bruce checked under Tony's shirt to be sure the binding agent was holding together under the bandages, which it was. Pinching the bridge of his nose while his wrist rested between his face and knee, Tony was paused for a long time, not taking the bottled water Steve offered him. "Are you okay?" Steve asked, afraid the Avenger might pass out.

"Sh..." Tony stuttered before going quiet again. After a few minutes, Tony finally became more oriented and accepted the bottled water. Once he took a drink, he rubbed his face with his hand and without making eye contact, he questioned, "Is Thor still here?"

"Yeah, he didn't do anything stupid," Steve answered.

"There was something I was trying to tell you guys last night," Tony said, still burying his face in his hand, trying to suppress his symptoms.

"What is it?" The soldier asked, seeing whatever burden it was, laying exceedingly on Tony's conscious.

"Strange said he saw fourteen million outcomes to Thanos..." Tony hesitantly told, taking a shaky breath. "There's only one out of those fourteen million that we could win." For a long moment, they were speechless and trying to swallow this knowledge. Taking a step back briefly, Steve ran a hand through his hair, trying to stay calm as he began choking up at hearing there was only one way out of fourteen million. Fourteen million was a  _lot_.

"Did Strange tell you how we were supposed to win?" Steve urged, but he doubted his own statement.

"No," Tony said.

"Do you think we still have a chance?" Bruce hoped.

"I don't know," the engineer returned with a sigh.

Tony went silent, the trauma of the experience gnawing at him. "Tony...what happened out there?" Bruce questioned openly, encouraging his friend to talk about the events on Titan and fighting Thanos.

"After he impaled me...he was going to kill me with the gauntlet," the Avenger murmured quietly, still with his eyes closed and resting his head on his knee. "But then Strange traded the stone to Thanos for my life."

The truth sunk and rippled the guilt that clawed at Tony. Steve and Bruce realized this as they watched Tony sitting there, torn over the fact that his life was traded for a stone and now everybody was dead because of that. "Tony, I know you probably won't like hearing this, but maybe you needed to live for that one outcome to be possible," Bruce thought out loud, knowing that Strange was keen on protecting the stone at all cost. If he saw fourteen million outcomes, he had to have given the stone up for a reason, even if it resulted in Thanos succeeding...temporarily...?

"Thanos still has the stones. It may be possible to acquire them and fix all of this," Steve advocated, agreeing with the scientist.

"I can't believe he gave the fucking stone away for one life," Tony faltered with a mixture of anger and morose.

"Tony," Bruce said, placing a hand on Tony's bicep, "It's not your fault," he added, solaced as he exchanged a glance with Steve before looking back at his ailing friend. They knew the billionaire was overwhelmed and stressed, and it wasn't the time for him to be sulking. "Just try not to think about it right now, okay?"

* * *

Warmth settled on Clint while he sat on an old tree stump under the sun's rays. A delicate summer breeze traveled through the trees and across the fields. It felt nice against his skin, but he was crestfallen as he held a picture of his family. Deep down the emotion to cry was brewing, but the Archer spent so many nights mourning that all the tears were dry now. He was cried out, and it was helpful to be cried out. The beauty of the day almost made Clint forget what had happened, but it was lacking the singing of birds or the rustle of an animal in the brush. Nothing was the same and it remained surreal as Clint kept in denial, but then he would occasionally speak to himself, stating, "This is real..."

"Hey, you ready to go?" Clint numbly looked up at Natasha as she approached him, asking. In front of him was an enormous farm garden where they came to get meat and produce since everything in the grocery stores was starting to go bad without people there to run them or deliver or buy. The farm they were at wasn't too far from the Compound and they had been acquainted with the farmer for a few years after he brought over free fruit or pies every once in a while to thank the Avengers for their work. Luckily, the farmer had survived the Snap and was happy to offer them food after hearing that the Compound was running short on fresh food. Natasha had put a week's worth of produce for ten people in a large bag she brought.

Clint kind of felt bad. He had just been sitting there, lost in thought while Natasha was out in the field picking any vegetables that there were. It was still early in the year, so not much had grown in yet and it was still a worldly struggle figuring out how to get food to people.

Still spaced out, Natasha came and took Clint's hand, squeezing it. "We should get back to the Compound," she said, and upon listening to his friend, Clint got to his feet. Without saying anything, they walked back to their car with their arms around each other, both of them trying to move forward from the wake of Thanos. "Here you go," the farmer said, handing Clint a zip-lock bag of chicken meat as they headed out.

"Thank you, Eli," Natasha replied, gratefully.

"If you need any more, let me know," Eli encouraged kindly.

"Likewise," Clint complied before Eli went to sit on his porch as Clint and Natasha got in their car and left.

They still couldn't get over how unnaturally quiet and empty the compound was as they walked through it. Eventually, they found their crew in the gallery next to the kitchen. "How'd it go?" Rhodey asked while sitting in a chair, along with Pepper and Thor. Steve and Bruce were standing while Rocket stood on an ottoman. All six of them were gathered in the lounging area.

"Well, we aren't going to starve and Eli is as kind as ever," Natasha said, setting the meat and produce on the island, along with other dried or packaged foods from the barren supermarkets. "A lot of his livestock is gone, though, so the meat will have to be rationed," she revealed, unfortunately.

"Can't believe this is happening," Rhodey commented, shaking his head in disbelief regarding their apocalyptic situation.

Nobody responded; all of them feeling exactly how Rhodey did. "Thank you for going, Natasha, and Clint," Pepper muttered, looking over her shoulder towards the kitchen as they unpacked all the food.

"Of course," Natasha said as Clint picked up a tablet and went to sit down with the rest of the group. "How's everything going here?" The assassin questioned as Thor got up from his chair and trekked to the kitchen, looking for something to munch on until Natasha handed him a bag of pretzels.

"Still looking..." Bruce answered woefully, gazing at Natasha as she stood next to Thor, sharing the bag of pretzels with him. "The wound is starting to get infected, Tony's running a fever."

The news made Natasha more upset than she originally thought it would and even Clint briefly looked up from his tablet at Bruce. "What about the Cradle?" She evinced, doing her best to subdue the empty feeling that continued to lurch at her heart, but the emotions where stockpiling high after all their losses.

"It's in South Korea," Pepper conveyed dolefully.

"Halfway across the world," Steve remarked, leaning his palms on the back of a chair.

"I don't know what a Cradle is, but we got this fancy thing on the ship that can bind cells back together pretty quickly," Rocket input and the entire group carried their attention to the last Guardian in half amusement since what he was describing was something like the Cradle.

"It's funny you decided to mention that right now, and not last night," the colonel stated since Rocket and Nebula had spent a lot of time in the Hanger with the transmitter, which was where Nebula was currently.

"I had to stay with Nebula in the Hanger," Rocket noted, "It doesn't take seven people to save someone."

"That's how big of a surgical team we're going to need to fix that wound," Clint mumbled, as he searched through help requests on social media.

"Whatever. We were waiting for distress calls if there were any," the raccoon waved off, adding, "You guys aren't the only planet that's suffering from this. Actually, despite what's happened, I'd say you guys are pretty damn lucky. I've known many people who've had their families murdered and their planets obliterated because of Thanos. At least you still have your planet." After listening to Rocket's fleet tangent, the Avengers thought about this, wondering if they'd been taking their lives for granted against everything they didn't know about the universe. It brought on the memory of New York being attacked and Tony driving that nuke through the wormhole. If he hadn't, a lot of people would have died and Thanos would have come either way to massacre half the population.

"Alright, let's get back on point," Steve broke in, dragging his head out of the clouds. "Rocket, will your cradle be able to heal an injury as large as Tony's?"

"It's not a cradle, but I've seen it heal some pretty bad injuries. However, you'd have to pull off that binding agent for the device to access the cells," Rocket answered to Steve while the Guardian leaned against the chair's armrest. "Plus, it'd take a few sessions to get the wound completely sealed up."

"So, it's a huge risk," Pepper complied edgily.

"If things go wrong, Tony could bleed out," Rhodey added accordingly.

"Tony almost bled out last night and he's still recovering from that blood loss," Bruce crucially pointed out while fondling with his glasses. "We can't risk another situation like that or we could lose him for good."

The group exchanged a few glances as they unwillingly returned to square one regarding Tony. "We have to do something, though. If we don't do anything, then we  _will_  lose him," Rhodey said to Bruce steadily, who stood off to his right.

Bruce acknowledged Rhodey's statement. "Is that North Carolina surgeon willing to be flown up if we provide the transportation?" He asked, leering in Clint and Pepper's direction.

"Yeah, but it's still all about getting a team and if we do get a team, they need a location and equipment," Clint eluded rhetorically if they were even able to get a surgical team in time.

"The Compound does have one operating room," Pepper insinuated, glancing from one person to the next.

"That would be less of a risk if the surgery was done here," Bruce mentioned, knowing that Tony was running out of time as he became weaker every day. They may have been holding off death, but it kept inching on Tony and it would take him if they couldn't find a way to close that deadly wound for good. "We wouldn't have to worry about something going wrong while transporting Tony."

"Okay..." Pepper sighed, anxiously pressing her palm against her forehead and closing her eyes. "I'm going to visit some of these aid groups and hopefully find some doctors," she declared in a very hoping for the best but preparing for the worst manner.

"Pepper, it's okay if you need to stay here," Steve offered, but she had confined herself to the Compound since Tony returned to Earth and it was understandable if she was yearning for a small escape from the recent formidable happenings.

Having grabbed her bag, Pepper paused and looked back at the group. "I'm okay if you're here," Pepper stammered, rather conflicted on what to do. "I have to at least try finding someone to save him." Her voice quivered as she nearly cracked under the pressure of it all, but she netted her emotions. "If we're forced to transport Tony, then we'll do it, but until then, I have to do everything in my power to prevent that."

The room was quiet for a moment. "Then don't go alone," Thor murmured, not wishing for Pepper to be by herself with the unknowing if Tony was going to survive or not.

"I'll go with you," Natasha said to Pepper, leaving Thor the bag of pretzels and joining Tony's fiancee.

"Alright, stay safe," Steve bid as the two women left.

Once they were gone, Clint got up and approached Steve. "I hope you don't mind me heading out for a couple of hours, either," he said while Rhodey got to his feet also.

"Wow, everybody's just splitting up now," Rocket commented, "Guess I'm going back to the Hanger, then. Maybe we'll get some motivating rescue missions to go on."

"Speaking of," the Archer musingly responded to Rocket as the Guardian headed in the opposite direction Natasha and Pepper went. "There's a stranded cruise ship in the Atlantic because of everything. They're in desperate need of help and are asking for a pilot to evacuate them." Clint showed the request to Steve on the tablet. The request had been there for a few days now and nobody had responded to the S.O.S. At first, it wasn't in Clint's interest to go after brooding in his own pain of loss and exhausted after searching for surgeons, but eventually, the desperate messages were getting to him.

The Captain nodded in support while Bruce and Rhodey listened to the mission Clint wanted to go on. "We'll be here with Tony," Steve said, "If anything goes wrong, let us know."

"I will," the Avenger replied as Steve handed the tablet back to him. "Keep me posted about Tony's condition," he said, backing up and turning on his heels. "Hey, Thor, do you mind coming with me?" Clint asked the Thunder God who was rummaging through the kitchen. With all the chaos ensuing, everything was unpredictable and could go wrong, so two people were the ideal instead of one.

"Might as well help people if I'm not killing Thanos," Thor graveled, ambling after Clint.


	4. At the End of the Dead End

Leaving the humans to their bidding as they divvied off to save their dying friend, Rocket knew he had nothing better to do than to return to the hanger. An unusual sickness ate at his stomach and he knew it was from coping. It stung his ears, hearing Nebula reveal that he was the last surviving Guardian of the Galaxy. His fur prickled as a chill iced down his spine at the thought of it.

The Benatar was too big for the hanger, considering the Quinjets were designed to be more fast and quaint. They were for more stealthy operations, and therefore, fit in the hanger. Due to this, the Benatar was dormant on the lawn, still in the process of being fixed up, which Rocket suspected Nebula to be working on in case they received a distress signal, but instead, she was playing a game.

Next to the transmitter, she sat at a table with two markers taped vertically. A pencil was taped horizontally in the center between the two markers. With a triangular folded piece of paper, Nebula practiced flicking it over the makeshift goal post.

"Where any signals picked up?" Rocket asked after approaching Nebula with ghostly silence, startling her as she bodaciously stopped her game and acted like the raccoon saw nothing.

"You've been gone for only twenty minutes," the assassin criticized defensively, shooting Rocket a glare.

"And that's enough time to maybe get a signal," the Guardian countered, eyeing the Benetar through the glass windows as he padded over to the mechanical woman. "The ship is almost fixed up, now it's just waiting for people to call for help," Rocket commented dubiously, wondering who out in space actually remained after the Snap. "What are you doing?" He invoked, crossing his arms and inciting towards Nebula.

"Nothing," she said, stiffly staying still, looking embarrassed as she cupped the folded paper under her hands.

"What do you mean 'nothing'?" Rocket remarked sarcastically, gesturing with his arms to the game setup. "That's paper football. Quill showed it to me." Letting his memories grip his mind, he thought about how the Guardians passed time during their lengthy space travel. They often played games along with their music and many of the games were Earth games that Quill shared. The reminiscing brought gloom, though, and it clawed at Rocket until he forcefully shook the coming tears away. "Where'd you learn it?" Rocket asked curiously, swallowing his sorrowful and harsh emotions, but the muscles in his face slacked when he saw a shockingly woebegone expression on Nebula's stature as she gawked down at the paper football in her hand. "You know, that Terran...he'll probably die. He's in bad shape," he was dismal, being sympathetic, but truthful about Tony. "I hope he doesn't, though, he seems like a good guy." Rocket and Tony never got much chance to exchange words, but the raccoon sure admired the Avenger's bravery for facing the Mad Titan. It paralyzed Rocket with fear, picturing himself standing before Thanos.

Silence brewed for a long moment while Nebula twiddled the triangle paper in her hands, thinking about the four days they were stuck on the ship together. "...He was nice to me..." She muttered quietly, acknowledging the human's kindness to her despite who her father was. Tony was very compatible against his forlorn situation and physical condition, enduring the miserable trip back to Earth while gazing into the intimidating void of space. "He didn't see me as a monster," Nebula said, looking down at her hands.

"You're not a monster, but you were raised by one," Rocked tried to reassure because, in all honesty, it wasn't Nebula or Gamora's fault for being forced into Thanos' house as children. They couldn't have changed their childhood or the fact of being raised like dogs for war. The Guardian could never imagine what that must've been like, but he could relate through his own experience of being caged like a lab rat before he escaped. All of them were going down dark paths...until they met Quill and somehow became one hell of a dysfunctional family. "I miss them..." Rocket depressed after sitting down and laying his chin on the table.

Rocket didn't expect any response, but after a moment of watching his ears joylessly rest against his head, Nebula huskily voiced, "So do I." Mutually sharing an empathetic glance with Nebula, Rocket dishearteningly raised his head, meaning to ask Nebula an important question.

He was hesitant, but proceeded, "The Terran...er...Tony, he mentioned what happened between Thanos and Peter." A glum expression sunk in the Guardian's face and voice, denying Peter's mistake that cost them the battle. "Is it true?" Rocket hated asking, but he needed to know and his heart began drowning all over again when Nebula nodded. With a deep breath, Rocket took this in, gulping and blankly submitting, "What an idiot."

"They were all idiots," Nebula tsked, both angry and hurt.

"Yeah, they were and so are we for not saving them," Rocket gingerly, yet brutally mumbled, holding onto the guilt and failure that pained all of them.

* * *

**UPPER MANHATTAN**

Unable to afford a three-hour drive to Manhattan due to the sand slipping through the hourglass situation, Natasha and Pepper flew to Upper Manhattan. An uncanny presence inched its way across their skin, sending chills and making their neck hair stand on end as Earth remained desolate below. No people or animals...occasionally there was, but it didn't take away from the defeated mood. As they got closer to the city, there were more sightings of people. At least they were grouped together now, trying to clean up the city after the Snap by removing abandoned cars or putting out gasoline fires. When Natasha finally landed the Quinjet, it was in a park a couple of blocks from the hub that had been set up. The streets were quiet as they walked with a tablet containing Tony's medical charts and scans that Bruce had put together, and at one point Pepper looked over at Natasha. It was the first time the Avenger had seen the city like this and it wasn't right; it was upsetting seeing one of the largest cities in the world reaped of its harvest and the fields left barren.

Upon reaching the somewhat bustling of the hub, the crowd was extremely unvocal. A few whispers were passed back and forth while many just sat by the tents that were handing out food while people searched for missing persons or listened to advising on what to do and what the government's plan was. Several other civilians were gathered both inside and outside the hospital at medical tents that had been set up to tend to the overwhelming and bewildered individuals. As Natasha and Pepper advanced towards the hospital stairs, Natasha briefly stopped, suddenly feeling a surge of emotions as she observed all the survivors helping each other physically and providing emotional support. A few artists were sketching with chalk on the streets or playing soothing music because that's all that they could do; enable a humane response to such tragedy. The food made it all worse, spelling the aromas of New York's many cultures, to lend people some type of comfort as they cried over their losses. It was enough to keep Natasha unmoving as she eyed the market and a tent set up for street food.

Pepper watched Natasha getting caught in the moment. It was a lot for Pepper to handle as well when she came to the city the first day after the Snap, but somehow the last five days had made the CEO forget that Natasha and the others had been on the run for two years. They hadn't been back to New York since the Accords. "Maybe we should bring some food home to the others when we're done here. They'll probably like that," Pepper said caringly, but the red-head, now the blonde head was still mesmerized. "Natasha?"

Natasha finally nodded before looking up at Pepper who stood on the steps. "Was it like this when you were here before?" She asked, gazing back at the view again while squinting from the sun. "There's actually quite a few people here."

"It looks busier than it did the other day," Pepper agreed, assuming a few days offered stray civilians the chance to make it to one of the hubs throughout Manhattan. Currently, there were three; one in Upper, one in Midtown, and one in Lower Manhattan. "I guess I can't really say that's a bad thing."

Continuing up the stairs, Natasha mumbled, "It may be unfortunate for us, though," knowing that their chance of finding a surgeon was slimming with this many people.

Shouldering their way through the hospital, Pepper and Natasha slipped their way to the help desk. There were other people in line, but they didn't have time for a line. "Excuse me," Pepper voiced, cutting through the line with Natasha as they made it to the receptionist.

"Ma'am, there's many people with questions and emergencies," the receptionist both calmly and irritatedly told, probably having people doing this to her all day.

Pepper cut in, "I know, but th-"

"Would you please go back in line," the receptionist interrupted.

Impatiently, Natasha fleetly grabbed the lady's arm, which startled the receptionist, although, pleased Pepper. "We're with the Avengers. That gives us no privilege, but one of ours is dying. Please, look at these charts," Natasha was stricken and serious, taking the tablet Pepper was holding and handing it to the receptionist, "He  _needs_  help."

Intimidated by Natasha, the receptionist flipped through the file on the tablet, looking through the photos and charts. "Oh my god..." the receptionist griped, her tone becoming more sympathetic and concerned. "Is this...?"

"Tony Stark," Pepper answered.

The receptionist immediately got up. "You should've said that to begin with," She sighed, taking the tablet and leaving to the interior of the hospital.

Natasha and Pepper exchanged a glance after secretly sneaking in a fist bump after victoriously bribing the receptionist. For about twenty minutes they eagerly leaned against the pillars or paced while checking in with Bruce, Rhodey, or Steve to know how Tony was doing. It didn't make the wait go any faster, but eventually, a voice caught their attention, "So, you're the Tony Stark people?" A young woman dressed in scrubs walked up to Natasha and Pepper with their tablet. "One of the nurses gave me the scoop, so I took the liberty of looking over Tony's charts," she began, but the steady and tender of her voice gave Natasha an unwanted feeling of doubt.

"And?" Natasha asked, knowing Pepper's heart was racing nervously just like hers.

"There's...unfortunately, I have to be honest...there's no good news," the woman said empathetically as Pepper covered her eyes and started to quietly cry. Natasha put a hand on Pepper's shoulder, hoping to calm her down, but Natasha was finding it hard keeping her own tears at bay. "I'm sorry. Believe me, you're not the only one going through this," the surgeon said compassionately and emotionally. "I lost a lot of my family and friends, so I'm just trying to help all the people that I can, but I'm the only surgeon in the area that survived and there's only a small team of doctors. We're losing people left and right because there are not enough medical professionals, and there are still many people from the accidents that we're trying to save. I have a woman about to give birth to twins. I wish I could help you, I really do, but I can't spare the time to drive three hours upstate or fly, especially without a surgical team to spare," the young woman explained dishearteningly.

"I understand..." Pepper said, regaining control and wiping the tear streaks from her cheeks and eyes. "Thank you for checking." It may have been a dead-end and she may have felt some anger, but Pepper had to understand. It wasn't this surgeon's fault, she was only doing what she thought was right.

"I'm sorry...the best I can do is send a doctor with you," the surgeon offered, handing the tablet to Natasha.

"Thank you...but I'm not really sure if that'll help," Pepper declined, knowing at this point, a doctor couldn't do anything. Bruce had the most medical knowledge out of all of them at the Compound and he was doing the best he could, but the truth was, "He's not getting any better without surgery."

"Alright..." The young woman replied comprehendingly, grabbing a business card from the receptionist desk and writing down a phone number on it. "If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me," she conveyed, handing Pepper the number.

"Thank you," Natasha returned.

"Goodluck," the surgeon said before going back to work.

Empty handed, Pepper and Natasha found their way outside. "Thank you for coming with me," Pepper acknowledged to Natasha as they stood at the top of the stairs.

"I care about Tony too," Natasha admitted, glancing at Pepper mutually.

As they walked down the stairs, the entire situation gave Pepper a feeling of a distant memory. "This is giving me some weird deja vu," she stated, half amused and half agitated, somehow thinking back to a certain time when Tony was dying from palladium poisoning.

"Me too," Natasha affirmed with a shallow smirk.

* * *

**NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN**

The snuffed roar of the thrusters catered as white noise, drowning both Clint and Thor into their daytime nightmares as they quietly sat on the Quinjet. Clint piloted while Thor sat in one of the seats in the aircraft's center or patrolled around the interior to keep himself from boredom. "So what's the story?" Thor grumbled, walking to the wing to sit while acting like he had been dragged into a chore.

"Thanos," Clint remarked dryly.

"That's not what I meant," the Asgardian said.

The Archer smirked slightly, having known what Thor really meant and just charismatically responding with dark humor. "I guess a lot of the ship's passengers and crew dusted, and none of the survivors to know how to navigate an ocean liner, so they're basically sailing blind," Clint briefed, keeping his eyes locked forward on the clouds.

"Being blind sucks," Thor commented.

"You're not blind," Clint scoffed.

After a moment, Thor mumbled, "My eye got slashed out when I was fighting my crazy sister." This caught Clint's attention and he shifted his gaze over his shoulder at Thor. The Asgardian sat still, staring at the floor, dazing out in thought, and Clint realized that he had never seen Thor as a broken man. Here they were, two broken Avengers.

"Thor...I'm sorry to hear about your family," Clint said, understanding what it felt like to have everything he held dear torn away. Hearing that Loki was killed, it didn't phase the bowyer, remembering the mental torture he was put through from the Mind Stone, but Loki was still Thor's brother. Clint had a brother, but he hadn't spoken to Barney in years after a falling out. Clint didn't even know if he was alive or not, but Barney was still his brother. "I know how you feel," the Avenger added comfortingly.

"Thank you," Thor conceded, letting Clint's condolences sink in before he looked at his teammate and compliantly said, "I'm sorry about your family too."

Holding his gaze on Thor for a moment, Clint could see the shame raping Thor of his dignity. "This isn't your fault, you know," Clint served, trying to be reassuring.

"He mocked me after I impaled him through the chest," Thor growled, folding his hand into a fist. He was disgusted with himself. "I let the idea of revenge get the better of me, and we lost because of that."

For some reason, Clint started to feel frustrated, and his jaw clenched. "Thor, you know that's bullshit, blaming yourself," he called out. It irked him because he felt he was to blame too. Even though house arrest gave him time with his family, it eventually became a burden when he couldn't go to school events for his kids or couldn't go on vacations with his family or couldn't take hero jobs. For a long time he blamed Tony for the Accords, but after thinking about it for two years, Clint found himself shifting the blame away from Tony and onto himself. Tony was a victim of the Accords just as much as anybody else. The Accords divided them, and Clint couldn't be there when his friends needed him. "How do you think I feel?" Clint croaked, feeling just as preyed on as Thor. "I should've been there with you guys," he said, beside himself as his bottom lip lightly trembled. Gawking forward, through the cockpit windows, the Avenger wiped away stray tears he could no longer hold back. Thor respectfully listened, not knowing what words to say, but wanting Clint to know that he was there and understood the Hawkeye's grief. "The ship's coming up," Clint noted, struggling to steady himself, but the emotional breakdown faded, and when it did, Clint actually felt better.

Preparing to land, Clint sorted himself out as he surveyed the cruise ship until he spotted the helicopter landing pad. A young woman was standing not too far from the pad, watching as Clint finally docked the Quinjet. As the ramp unfolded and the two Avengers stepped out, the young woman actually began crying upon the relief of being rescued. When Clint was close enough, he realized the girl had to be in her early twenties and her physical traits reminded him of his daughter, Lila. He felt protective when this girl openly hugged him, absolutely traumatized by the Snap and being stranded for five days. "Hey, it's going to be okay, we're going to get you out of here."

"Are there more people here?" Thor asked as Clint and the girl broke apart.

"The others are inside," the girl said, leading them towards ship's inside.

"Are there any injured?" Clint questioned as they walked through the doors.

"A few, one of the ship's chefs burned herself pretty badly when it all happened and another guy broke his ankle," she informed as they found the waiting passengers. There were only seven people, four women, and three men, but they cheered and clapped when they saw Clint and Thor.

An older man in his sixties wearing a fancy polo shirt came to shake Clint's hand. Thor, less in tune with the mission and still not accommodating to handshakes, just let the polo man grab his hand while he wasn't paying attention. To be honest, Thor's thoughts were still on Thanos. "Thanks for coming. You're Clint and Thor, correct?"

"We are," Clint confirmed, before proceeding to ask, "How are the injured?" He eyed the chef, who had her arm bandaged up, and a boy in his late teens with a splint on his ankle. To Clint's surprise, the chef and the boy seemed relatively calm and well taken care of.

"Doing the best they can, but they've been very patient," the polo man said, continuing sullenly, "I mean...one minute life is normal and suddenly everybody was gone..." An emotional glint caught in the man's eye as he made eye contact with Clint. This made Clint examine the passengers again while they were gathering their belongings, sulking in the transparency of their exhaustion from the overwhelming situation.

"...let's just get everybody home, alright?" Clint advised sympathetically. Together, the passengers followed the girl that reminded Clint of Lila with their luggage while Clint, Thor, and the polo man escorted the boy with crutches. "Who set your ankle up like that?" Clint pondered, curiously narrowing his eyes.

"All thanks to him," the boy praised the polo man.

The Avenger asked skeptically as they passed through the doors. "Are you a doctor?"

Extremely modest, the polo man didn't want to draw the spotlight on him, but he shrugged and casually replied. "Actually, I'm a surgeon." Clint and Thor both stopped dead in their tracks, staring at the guy, still absorbing the harmony they were just told.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Clint touched the man's elbow to pull him along. "I need you to come with me, quickly," Clint demanded, transitioning back into a distressed state.

The polo man stammered, "What about m-"

"You!" Clint pointed at a passenger, and the woman stared at him wide-eyed. "Help him," the Archer ordered, and the passenger did as told, realizing Clint's urgency. "Come with me," Clint said, and the polo man followed along with Thor.

Many of the passengers were getting settled on the Quinjet when Clint and Thor, not trying to be rude, pushed their way to the cockpit. Some of the passengers gave them confused looks, but went back to their own business. "Will you look at these, please?" Thor asked, handing a tablet to the polo man.

The polo man accepted the tablet with a furrowed brow. "This is one of your guys?" He posed until he came across a photo of Tony laying on his side on the table, looking ill and unattentive under the blankets, gauze, and IVs. "Oh..." He was hush once he perceived that this acutely wounded and dying man was Tony Stark.

"Yeah," Clint commented while crossing his arms.

Further investigating, the polo man said, "Is he eating?"

Clint shook his head, "No."

"Who did this to Tony?" The polo man pressed, continuing to study the files on the tablet.

"The same guy that killed half of the planet," Thor answered and the polo man glanced at the Asgardian unnervingly after that news.

"Geez..." The polo man murmured while a few of the passengers eavesdropped, "How long has he been like this?"

Thor thought for a moment before divulging, "Well, he was in space for about four days, but he's been at the Compound for a day."

"Five days?" With alarm, the polo man looked immensely worried which didn't ease Clint or Thor, "I'm just...baffled that he's survived this long on these injuries. Poor guy..."

"We found a trauma surgeon in North Carolina," Clint swallowed and shifted his weight, "but he said he can't fix these injuries without a second surgeon and a decent sized team of doctors."

"He isn't wrong," the polo man agreed and Clint found himself frowning and he couldn't bear to look at Thor. They were both genuinely disturbed by this statement until the surgeon said, "But you can put him on the phone for me."

"You mean..." Clint stuttered, hoping the polo man meant was Clint thought he meant, "You'll..."

"Let's get these people to the mainland first and then I'll go to the Compound with you," the polo man announced. The Archer felt so relieved that he glanced over at Thor and saw a relieving grin capturing the Thunder God's expression. It was one step, but it could give Tony a chance. "I can't make any promises. These photos were taken about seventeen hours ago, so Tony's condition has probably deteriorated further...I mean...there's some dangerous damage here, but I'll try to save him. It's the least I can do for the Avengers after you rescued me and these other people," he graciously granted.

Running a hand through his hair, Clint sighed, keen that Tony would hold out long enough. "I just hope the other surgeon will agree to it," Clint muttered, unsure as he thought about the reassurance this would bring to the Avengers, but if they couldn't get a second surgeon, there was nothing more they could do...Clint tried burning the thought of Tony dying agonizingly slow out of his mind.

"Don't worry," the polo man responded, "Trust me, I'll persuade him."


	5. If You Ever Need Me, I'll Be There

As Tony waited and waited, his condition progressively and notably worsened. Every breath he took now, no longer was it an involuntary act of his being, but he had to remember to inhale and exhale. Excruciating pain cursed him and even on an IV of morphine, Tony couldn't contain the immense discomfort he was in. His harrowing groans were able to rein the pain enough at a time, but the Avenger could feel his strength sapping to the point where he hardly had the energy to move or speak anymore. The idea of dying waded with Tony, and a thought came to him that he wasn't ready to go, but he fought like hell and gave it his all, so he guessed that if it was his time, then he could only accept it...

Tony's body was left bloody, beaten, and bruised from the aftermath of Thanos, and past that were the sharp pains in his chest from broken ribs and lung contusions. It made his chest heavy from his swollen and tender muscles. He had overheard Bruce mention that both of his lungs were filling with fluid from the blunt trauma the moon caused, but then whenever the binding agent dissolved to a certain degree, blood would pool in his chest cavity. On top of that, Tony was running a fever of one hundred and one degrees Fahrenheit from the spreading infection. It was...inevitable news and it scared Tony, having such heinous complications on top of the horrendous stab wound. While he perilously drifted in and out of consciousness, Tony wasn't entirely sure if things could get any worse and hoped they wouldn't, but then he coughed up blood.

Unclear on how it happened, Tony only remembered laying on his side, exhausted, one moment and the next he was propped on his elbow with blood glistening in the palm of his hand. For a moment, Tony just stared at it, too tired to care as the blood dripped between his fingers. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, could you..." Tony trailed off as he tried to withstand more coughing. Within a heartbeat, though, Rhodey was there handing Tony a cloth while Bruce and Steve lingered in the hallway. The downed Avenger's condition was so ghastly that whatever small change occurred, Rhodey, Bruce, and Steve frequently checked on him to certify that Tony was still stable. Technically, the Ironman  _was_  unstable, just not immediately dying.

"I'm sorry, Tony," Rhodey murmured sympathetically as Tony coughed more blood into the cloth.

Not knowing what to say in return, Tony balled the cloth up in his hand and laid back down. "Don't ever hold this against you," Tony lulled, attempting to be sincere but meant his words. He never wanted anybody to blame themselves if he ended up dying. Upon saying that, Rhodey gently placed his hand against the side of Tony's head in brotherly affection before moving his hand to Tony's shoulder and finally pulling it away as he left the room to allow the billionaire to rest.

The next person he saw when he came to was Pepper, which did brighten Tony's spirits, but behind her smile, he could see the despair. She sat down in front of Tony, entwining her hands in his while leaning her forehead against his shoulder. A mild whimper turned into an unmistakable resilient cry. Tony felt incredibly heartbroken and guilty as Pepper hung an arm over his side in a comforting manner. It was the most she could do to hug him, which Tony grunted from the pain that resided, but he kept his mouth shut. "Didn't find anybody?" He asked, hating that he had to put Pepper in this position again. Tony was a very unlucky person when it came to injuries.

"A few doctors, but no surgeons," Pepper sniffed, keeping her head on Tony's shoulder, but shifting it to one side so she could see his face. Peacefully, Tony gazed into Pepper's eyes and she gazed back. A merciful moment past where the gravity of what they had gone through and what they were going through had suspended; oceans of tranquility ran in every direction and they wished they could escape into that fantasy world, but here they were.

"I love you," Tony muttered, which led Pepper to run her fingers through her fiance's dark hair. Squeezing Tony's hands, Pepper moved her forehead and rested it against the engineer's.

"I love you too," she replied, and the touch of her warmth made Tony shiver in the reminder of how cold he was from the blood loss, despite his fever. He hadn't really noticed from being unconscious so often, but being awake now, he felt a sterilizing cold and suddenly he couldn't stop trembling from it. Pepper saw this and sat upright to look over her shoulder. "Bruce," she articulated, and the scientist, who was talking with Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve in the hallway looked Pepper's way.

Ambling over, Bruce took one glance at Tony and froze in his tracks. It took a lot of strength to keep himself moving as he said to Pepper, "I'm going to get an electric blanket." As Bruce stepped out of the room, he was forced to take a deep breath from the anxiety that engulfed him. Momentarily, he paced until Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve approached him with grave expressions in response to Bruce's behavior. Stopping, Bruce glared up at them and unwillingly submitted, "Tony...his body is in stages of shock and is beginning to shut down." Those words were soul-crushing; it wasn't something they wanted to hear but had to hear. Rhodey began to pace while Natasha and Steve broke eye contact, trying to process this reality while Bruce continued, "He probably won't make it through the night. The best I can do is keep Tony comfortable."

The four of them stood there in silence, giving themselves a moment to gather their emotions because whether they were surprised at the notion or not, their eyes glossed over red. They may have had their differences with Tony with the Accords, it may have divided them and caused them to fall, but they didn't want him to die. The Accords just plagued as a nightmare, but past that, they had fond memories before 2016 of the Avengers just being the Avengers. If only they could relive those days and pretend the present never happened, but here they were...

But here they were when Bruce's phone rang. He saw it was Clint's caller identification, and answered in dismay, "Hey, Clint, how'd it go?" Rhodey, Steve, and Natasha stood by, waiting for Bruce to tell Clint the forbidding news, but then the scientist's crestfallen look began driving away as he listened to the Archer. "What are you talking about?" Bruce prodded with a beaten tone, exhausted of every sprig of hope eventually failing. "Clint, hang on, let me put you on speaker. The others are here with me." Once Bruce did so, he said, "Okay, go ahead."

Clint was cautious with his words, still feeling the effects of the surrealism and not wanting to jinx their luck.  _"One of the passengers we picked on the stranded cruise is a surgeon. He's flying back with Thor and me now."_  Clint deferred and it was lurching, anchoring a final sliver of aspiration.  _"He also called the North Carolina surgeon and he's agreed to come to New York, but somebody has to fly down to get him."_

At this point, it was difficult for Steve to wonder if it was luck or fate or coincidence when at the point of giving up, there was a small flame lighting the way. "I'll go," Steve volunteered, determined to pull this surgical team together as fast as possible with the newly given opportunity; their last hope.

 _"The North Carolina surgeon, Dr. Ramsy, he's bringing one doctor with him,"_  the Avenger conformed over the phone.  _"If you guys can find three more doctors, we'll be set. Tony might have a chance,"_  he insured before asking,  _"How's he doing?"_

Sighing at the question, Bruce shook his head lightly. "We're cutting it real close," Bruce said, fixating a tentative look with Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve.

 _"Then we better hurry,"_  Clint murmured.

"We're on it," Natasha reassured, planning the task on the knowledge that they had extra Quinjets. There were three on site, aside from the one Clint was using. "Steve can get Ramsy and his doctor," the Avenger recommended, adding, "Pepper and I met some doctors in New York City that I can reach out to."

Sitting and thinking about the coordination and the possibility of success, Clint remarked positively,  _"This might actually work."_

"We hope so," Rhodey said, rehearsing over the idea that they may actually be able to save Tony.

Getting ready to go their separate ways to retrieve the doctors and the North Carolina surgeon, Thor input,  _"Keep Tony alive for us, Banner."_

"Will do," Bruce returned feasibly, "Fly safe."

 _"Yeah, same to you guys,"_  Clint wished before ending the call.

With revived ambition from the news, Bruce, Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve exchanged relieved glances as Steve led them into the examination room where Tony stayed motionless on the table with Pepper sitting by his side. Pepper gazed up at them and started to recognize the flame that still burned. Tony, pale, sickly, and hardly moving, cracked open his eyes in a lucid moment upon hearing the Avengers enter the room. "Tony, we got two surgeons coming," Steve told, watching Tony's dull eyes.

"Are you serious?" Pepper reacted sluggishly, unsure whether to accept the news in case it was somehow false.

"Yeah," Bruce confirmed, and suddenly Pepper took a deep breath and gawked at Tony.

It was a moment for Tony to process the information, but his eyes looked slightly brighter than they did a minute ago. In mountainous gratitude, Tony weakly held out his hand towards Steve and the Captain took it in humble response. "Thank you," Tony emitted feebly.

"Hang in there," Steve said to his friend, clasping his free hand over their handshake to give Tony some comfort. As the genius' hand shakily settled down by his side, Steve stepped away, leaving Natasha a moment with Tony before she went astray to get the doctors. She felt so overcome that at the moment, she had nothing to say and was speechless. Tony understood this, though, and gave Natasha a simple, mutual nod before the Avenger left shortly after Steve.

* * *

Night had befallen, and if it was one thing that was making the Avengers panic, it was Bruce's statement that Tony  _'probably won't make it through the night'_. The next two and a half hours were in ravenous haste as Tony's vitals ever so slowly dropped, to which Bruce gave him back the oxygen mask. Waking him was a challenge and varied for several minutes, but the longest it took at one point was thirty minutes which was startling. It was a gamble now, just waiting to see if the Golden Avenger would holdout and luckily he did when Clint, Thor, and the surgeon were the first to get back to the Compound. "Bruce, Rhodey, Pepper, this is Daniel Marron," Clint introduced as the trio waited at the Compound's main entrance as Clint, Thor, and the surgeon rushed over from the hanger.

"Thank you for coming," Bruce said as Marron individually shook each hand in quick greeting.

"Where is he?" Marron urged, not wasting any time.

"This way," Rhodey instructed, ushering their group back to the infirmary and the examination room.

Clint, Thor, Rhodey, Pepper, and Bruce loitered just outside the room as Marron entered, observing the gruesome sight of the hero's dying state. "Tony?" Marron uplifted, trying to pull Tony from his dithering unconsciousness. "Can you hear me? Mister Stark?" After a worrisome moment, Tony open his eyes, but it took him a few minutes to become aware. "My name is Daniel Marron, I'm a surgeon," Marron said, quickly alluding as Tony struggled to keep his eyes open and focused on Marron, "You don't need to respond, I know you're exhausted." Looking over Tony's body, Marron actually started to feel his heart racing nervously, realizing the inconceivable danger Tony was in and trying to keep calm for the one who was dying. Marron comprehended that Tony could possibly die at any time now, but the Avenger was holding on with all his strength by a thinning thread. "I can't make any promises, but I'm going to do what I can to save you," Marron said, seeing that Tony was still listening as attentive as he could be, hoping by some miracle that he could live. The surgeon stayed where he was, thinking fast on how he should proceed. "Tony, I would like to examine your torso, if you don't mind."

All Tony did was vaguely hum in response and Marron explained, "I know there's an exit wound on your back where the sword penetrated, but I need to examine the front where a lot of the chest damage is as well. Can you take my hand and I'll help you roll onto your back?" With what little strength he could muster, Tony lamely raised his hand and Marron gripped it. "Slowly, I know it hurts," Marron coached, seeing the insufferable pain searing Tony as he gritted his teeth and rasped as he agonizingly shifted his weight and controlled collapsing onto his back. Clint, Rhodey, Pepper, Bruce, and Thor intensely watched as Tony's heart rate spiked when he went completely limp, but the surgeon kept a level head so the five of them remained where they were. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to have to cut off your shirt," Marron sighed, locating some scissors and as he started cutting the fabric he said, "I promise I'll buy you a new shirt. It'll be my courtesy, like a complimentary breakfast at a three-star hotel, but you can have a free shirt with your surgery instead." Tony tried to contain an immensely painful chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to make my critical patients laugh," he joked, but then he toned it down as he put the scissors away, put on latex gloves, and retrieved some iodine. "It's going to be cold," Marron warned as he stripped away the bandages covering the stab wound, exposing the wound that was still held together by the binding agent. Rather than touching it, Marron left it alone and drizzled iodine over Tony's abdomen and wiped it off with a towel to tell what was blood versus dirt versus bruising. Afterward, he pulled out a sharpie and began strategically marking specific areas on Tony's chest and abdomen, although Tony hardly noticed as he fell back into a half-conscious state.

As this occurred, Natasha rejoined them, already back from the short flight to New York City. "Hey," she said.

The five of them veered their attention her way. "Hey," Clint replied.

"I fished three," Natasha noted, indicating with three fingers as she referred to the three doctors she brought back with her.

That was a cove of fresh air. "That's a decent sized team," Bruce responded, counting in his head that the two surgeons and four doctors made six.

"It'll work," Pepper revered, knowing that six doctors weren't seven, but it would suffice.

"How far away is Steve?" Natasha asked, having not talked to him since they both left the Compound.

"Thirty minutes out," Rhodey answered, sighing.

She could see the fear of losing Tony swaying deep in all of them, including herself. "How's it going?" She dared to question, steering her eyes towards the examination room where Marron was with Tony.

"He's marking Tony up," Rhodey mumbled, sounding displeased. By 'marking', they understood that Marron was drawing lines on Tony to figure out where they needed to cut him to efficiently repair the damage. And it wasn't that Rhodey was displeased, it was just that surgery was a serious matter. Nobody wanted their friend to have to be put unconscious and cut through with tools, but it was necessary.

They waited until Marron was finished, put the blanket back over Tony, and finally came out to talk to them. His expression turned from cool to frank once he was out of Tony's range. "Tony...is in worse shape than I originally thought," Marron was direct with concern. Pepper crossed her arms, prepared and expecting to hear the worst of it now. "I need to prep him, now, and get him under as soon as possible. That way when Ramsy gets here, we can start immediately. If Ramsy isn't here in thirty minutes, I'm going to have to start on my own, we can't hold off any longer...okay? Tony is out of time." Everybody held their tongues, there was nothing to say, they had hit the dam wall and were only able to listen to the water fall. "All of you must be scared and I can't blame you. I wish I had words to say, but this has been a long week, for all of us." Pepper, Rhodey, Natasha, Bruce, Clint, and Thor just stood there as Marron sensitively added, "If you have any final words you'd like to say to Tony, now is your last chance. I can tell Tony is anxious and distressed, so I would like to start administering medication and muscles relaxants. It's only a small dosage because of his current state, but he will be unresponsive once I give it to him. It'll help with the transition of being put under anesthesia." As a few of them merely nodded in acknowledgment, Marron asked with the new presence of Natasha, "I assume the rest of the doctors are here?"

"Yes," Natasha complied.

"I need to speak with them briefly, so that'll leave you a few moments to be with Tony," he said kindly before walking off and leaving the Avengers to their own.

Once Marron was gone, they one by one went into the room to keep Tony company until it was time. Natasha didn't follow, though, and stayed in the hall to call Steve.  _"Hey, is everything okay?"_  Steve asked when he answered the line, afraid that any call could mean that Tony didn't make it.

Natasha swallowed, pinpointing the best way to pass on the message. "The surgeon and the other doctors are here. They're going to be taking Tony soon, so they can start immediately when you and Ramsy land," Natasha gently said. "Marron says Tony can't wait any longer." Silence pursued, and Natasha knew that even though Steve wasn't saying it, he needed a moment. "Steve, are you there?"

 _"Yeah,"_  Steve answered latently,  _"Thanks for letting me know."_

"We've got a few minutes before they start the process of putting him under," Natasha informed, watching through the glass walls. Nobody was saying anything, they were just sitting there quietly with Tony. Maybe he wasn't even responsive now or didn't even realize everybody was there. He was the most still he had ever been. "I wanted to know if you had anything you wanted to say to Tony."

Again, there was a long pause. It was her intention to ask because she knew Steve was still holding some guilt after the Accords, and so was she, and maybe Tony was too, and Clint. At one moment during the last five days, Steve had told Natasha about the letter he had sent Tony after Siberia, telling the Golden Avenger that Steve and the Avengers would always be there whenever he needed them. They weren't there when Tony had needed them most.  _"This is it, isn't it?"_  Steve voiced hesitantly,  _"We could lose him."_

"Yeah," Natasha affirmed, knowing that if Steve never got to exchange final words with Tony and Tony ended up dying, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

 _"I wish I was there,"_  Steve murmured, huffing in frustration.

"I know," Natasha replied, trying to lend some comfort as she held her elbow.

 _"I want to say something, but I'm just...nothing will come,"_  Steve said, growing upset.

"Same here," Natasha was honest.

Together they waited, staying with each other on the line until Steve finally said,  _"Tell Tony...that we'll be seeing him after, and it can be from both of us."_

"Okay," Natasha replied tamely, feeling shook.

 _"Are you okay?"_  Steve questioned, hearing the falter in her voice.

"You're so optimistic," Natasha mused in annoyance.

 _"I have to be,"_  Steve breathed, continuing,  _"Will you tell him for me?"_

The Avenger nodded, "I will."

 _"Thank you, Natasha,"_  Steve pressed gently,  _"I'll see you soon."_

When the call ended, Natasha stood there for a much needed moment alone before she progressed into the room. There was still no talk as Pepper sat by Tony while Rhodey stood off to the side and Bruce had his back leaned against the wall. Clint occupied a chair on the other side of the room while Thor paced near the Archer. Still out of it, nobody made the effort to wake Tony and just embraced the gesture of being by his side. "Is he awake?" Natasha asked Pepper lightly.

Upon the request, Pepper gawked gingerly at Tony, squeezing his hand. "Tony," Pepper vaguely called, but he didn't respond. "Tony," she repeated and after a few seconds, he very reluctantly opened his eyes and languidly held them open as he looked at Natasha.

She knew getting Tony's attention was an ailing window, so she didn't hesitate and gifted, "Steve wanted me to tell you that we'll be seeing you after."

Tony continued to stare at Natasha briefly before, to the others' surprise, dragged the hand Pepper wasn't holding to the oxygen mask. He pulled it off enough to rustically deliver, "I'll see you after." This brought a sheepish smile onto Natasha and when the billionaire saw it, he fixed the oxygen mask back on, laid his hand down, and wearily closed his eyes. Here they all were, trying to be a comfort to Tony, but those four words he spoke was the most rooted and reassuring sentence they had heard in the last five days, and it was an inkling that everything was going to be okay.

Natasha texted Steve:  _He'll see us after._


	6. Under

The doctors had finally, with the blanket underneath him, lifted Tony onto a hospital bed and took him to the operating room, but Pepper had to stop at the doors after closely following. When she did, Rhodey gently put a hand on her shoulder and they walked with the rest of the team outside of the infirmary to wait in the lounge. Pepper sat on one of the couches, her knees folded under her while she slung her arm over the back of it and rested her head. A blanket laid over the back of the furniture, which she fiddled with the ends of as the minutes' ticked by. By what Marron had told them, by now, they most likely had Tony under and was waiting for Ramsy to join them, but Steve's Quinjet didn't arrive within the next thirty minutes. If they weren't there by 11:23 p.m., Marron was going to start without a choice. Well, Pepper anxiously watched the clock on her phone change from 11:22 p.m. to 11:23 p.m. She didn't say anything, but it made her skin crawl, and she knew that the others felt the same way.

A chilling wind howled outside, but it wasn't the screech of winter. April bowed for the coming summer and that occasionally brought along nasty thunderstorms. Fifteen minutes they listened to the storm rally itself and suddenly it was 11:38 p.m. when Steve emerged from the hallway. He was hush and just stood at the step of the lounging area, looking uncertain like they all were. There was no doubt that it bothered Steve that he arrived late, but he tried shoving the thought aside. "Is Ramsy with you?" Bruce asked, everyone's attention turning on Steve.

"He went to...uh," Steve murmured, gesturing with his thumb behind him towards the infirmary. "He went to go help with...the surgery." After he said this, the Captain surveyed his friends...it had been a long day, but it was about to get longer. Generously, Steve went to the kitchen and began making both tea and coffee. "Did Marron say how long it would be?" The soldier egged while bringing over a kettle of hot water and a pot of coffee and setting it on the coffee table.

"No, he didn't say anything," Rhodey answered as Steve returned to the kitchen to finish the ensemble before taking a place on the couch beside Pepper; bringing mugs, sugar, and cream to aid with the daunting hours to come.

As the team helped themselves to the beverages, the downpour began outside. They didn't think about it too much until Rocket and Nebula soon joined them. Natasha almost choked on her coffee and started coughing because Rocket was drenched; fur hanging soaked and dripping water everywhere.

"Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious," Rocket remarked as a few others couldn't contain mild chuckles, including Pepper. "You got any towels around here?"

"Yeah, I'll get you one," Bruce said. "Thanks for the laugh, Rocket," he added, getting up and disappearing down the hall. Nebula sat on the step in the meantime, between the couch Pepper and Steve were on and the chair Natasha was in. She caught Thor's gaze, who sat in a chair on the opposite side of the lounging area. Clint sat in a chair hair beside Thor, while Bruce and Rhodey were adjacent on the other couch. "Here," the scientist called, handing the Guardian a blue towel. The raccoon bundled it around himself, his ears outlining underneath it as he sat down next to Nebula, shivering. There was a smug smirk that appeared on Natasha's face. She tried hiding it behind the mug she was holding because for some odd reason Rocket made her think of a certain little blue alien named Stitch. The thought vanished, though.

"Nebula, what's the Garden?" Thor provoked, although half and half piquing the others' interest. The Avengers hadn't spoken much with Nebula yet. When she and Tony finally landed on Earth, they simply questioned her regarding Tony's injuries. Now that Tony was in the surgeon's care, it gave the team a chance to get to know Nebula. Rocket seemed to vouch for her and they all liked Rocket.

"Thanos' retreat," Nebula informed, resting her chin in her propped palm.

"Oh, he's got a retirement plan?" Rhodey commented at the thought of Thanos being allowed to live peacefully while the universe was left in ruins.

"Would you be able to take us there?" Thor delivered, although the notion wasn't exactly at an appropriate time. "Your ship is fixed now, right?"

Even the Archer, who was feeling the worst of the emotional pain like Thor, had to say something. "We're really talking about this right now?" Tony was in surgery and they were waiting to know if he was going to make it or not. The Asgardian was smoldering at the reflection of driving Stormbreaker into Thanos, only for the Mad Titan to sneer,  _'You should've gone for the head'._

"Thor, we've talked about this," Steve mentioned, seeing Thor tightly making a fist to tame his anger. "We can't go after him." Thor was often a polite and gentle person, but his righteous anger was boiling over too fast.

"Thor, let me put an image in your head," Rocket returned, gradually becoming pissed at the underestimated threat Thor was treating Thanos as, "Thanos has all six stones, he can literally do whatever he wants. He could allow us to breathe underwater if he wanted to. You know what, he could kill all of us, right now." That certainly gave the Avengers imagery; it was harrowing and hopeless upon facing someone who had acquired God-like control over the entire universe. Rocket hissed, "Is your skull so thick that you think we can just take the stones?"

"That gauntlet was damaged after he used it, there might be a chance that it no longer works," Thor insinuated, keeping a calm and rationalizing tone.

"But we don't know that for sure," Natasha said, knowing Rocket held a major point.

Gesturing to Nebula and Rocket, Thor replied, "Well, I figured that since we have people that know Thanos better than us, then we might have a way in. I briefly met Gamora, she's his daughter, right?"

Rocket tsked and stood up, pointing at Thor as he spoke, "We don't have to answer to you, I don't want to talk about it. That was a personal loss." He thought back for a moment, realizing all the loss everybody was feeling. The Guardian corrected, defending Nebula, "I mean, Thanos has made it personal with everyone now, but it's  _personal_  personal for Gamora and Nebula."

This idea that Thor and Rocket were leering at caught up to the rest of the group. "You're his family?" Clint guessed, directing the question to Nebula which made the entire room pause.

"Not biologically," Nebula finally responded after an awkward moment, hoping to explain herself. She wasn't looking to cause a rift. "But, yes, Thanos raised me after he massacred half the population on my home planet. It was the same for my sister." This statement began to resonate with the Avengers, having only heard and seen a portion of the Mad Titan's cruelty. "That is the type of person you are dealing with. Someone who takes children from their dead families and spends their lives being taught war. Someone who considers what he's doing as mercy. Someone who was willing to sacrifice his own daughter for an infinity stone. Thanos is kind when he wants to be, but he is barbaric," Nebula warned, not wishing to see these people brutally die at her father's hands. "It's even more complicated than that, though. Thanos doesn't have a god complex, he simply believes that what he's doing is what's best for the greater good."

Natasha watched Nebula as the others thought about what she said. "I'm sorry, that must've been rough," the Avenger was sympathetic. She may have not been raised by a tyrant, but the Red Room was its own form of inhumanity. Natasha knew the pain and resentment for the evil she had been a part of in her past. It was understandable that Nebula was going through those same emotions.

"I tried killing him before all this," Nebula quietly said, feeling guilty, "But I got captured and he used me as leverage to force my sister to take him to the Soul stone."

"We've all been to a place that we aren't proud of, but it's about who we are now," Rhodey tried to reassure, indirectly pressing on the team's own faults and flaws. Not one of them was truly white with innocence, but here they were, woven from the worst and the best of themselves to try doing the right thing. This was probably why none of them felt anger towards Nebula. She was just another victim.

Shifting her weight into a cross-legged position, Pepper held a mug of tea. "Thank you for bringing Tony back to us, Nebula," Pepper thanked and the others agreed, changing the subject to a better note. Truth was, Tony most likely would've died without Nebula's help. She could've just left him on that planet, alone to die, but she didn't.

"I'm glad I did," Nebula admitted, thinking back to their battle on Titan...the moment they lost. The next four days, Tony and Nebula worked together to get the Avenger back to Earth after taking a small detour to get more fuel and finding a jump point. "When we were on Titan, I had told Tony my relation with Thanos, but...he showed me compassion."

"I wouldn't doubt it if he did," Pepper moderately smiled, sullenly gazing at the steam rising from the hot mug in her hands.

"I hope he lives," Nebula supported, subtly eyeing Tony's partner.

"We all do," Steve sighed, determined to keep the group sane in the coming hours.

* * *

Losing track of time, the Avengers rotated on pacing, sleeping, and drinking caffeine. Rhodey and Steve leisurely paced to stretch their legs; Pepper laid facing away from the others on the couch; Clint and Natasha were on their phones; Bruce simply waited; Thor was rubbing his eyes due to the burning sensation of fatigue; Nebula was still on the step, but looked more relaxed; and Rocket was next to her, sleeping beneath the towel. The time was now 1:03 a.m. and hadn't even been two hours since the start of the surgery, but the wait was torture. However, a light beeping slowly roused them. Stagnantly, everybody exchanged exhausted looks like they were being awoken by an alarm clock, but refused to turn it off. "Rocket," Natasha muttered, looking over her shoulder and down at the raccoon, believing the sound to be coming from him. Rocket eventually stirred. "Hey," Natasha continued as the Guardian blinked and tried waking himself up.

Nebula, who was a little less patient, pulled the towel off of him and took the device making the noise. Scowling at Nebula when she did so, Rocket staggered to his feet. "What is it?" He asked, looking over Nebula's shoulder as she messed around with the device. It was a distress call, finally. "Here, let me see," Rocket said and Nebula handed him the device. If they went to the ship, they would probably be able to communicate, but the device  _did_  display who the signal came from. "Sorry, Thor, not Asgardians, but they're Xandarians," Rocket apologized, glancing at Thor, knowing he was hoping to find the lost Asgardians somewhere out there.

Thor was upset, but he accepted the unfortunate news. "Oh," Thor said, moving on to the new subject of the Xandarians, "There are still survivors?"

"Apparently," Rocket answered while the rest of the Avengers listened in, but for the most part remained out of the conversation. "You said Thanos decimated Xandar to get the Power stone, right?" Hearing that though, left everybody stricken at the thought.

"Yeah," Thor confirmed, holding a doubtful gaze with Rocket.

"They're probably in worse shape than us," Rocket murmured, picking up the towel and clicking the device back on his belt. "Okay, we'll be back. Come on, Nebula. Thor, are you coming or staying?" He asked, making up his mind to move along with their rescue mission quickly. Then he thought fleetly, glared at Thor and scolded, "We are going to rescue, we  _aren't_  going after Thanos."

The Asgardian considered this, but then he observed his friends around him. "I'm going to wait with everyone here," Thor decided, knowing he had been stepping over the line recently and it would be the right thing to stay until they knew if Tony would be okay or not.

"Alright, we'll be in touch," Rocket nodded as Nebula got to her feet to accompany the Guardian.

"Be careful out there," Thor divulged.

Rocket and Nebula remained there for a moment. "Let us know if Tony makes it," Rocket unknowingly sighed, and after a few mutual glances, they headed towards the corridor.

"Oh, wait," Pepper cut in, looking momentarily startled as she sat up to view Rocket and Nebula past the back of the couch. "That ship shook the whole building when it landed. We should probably warn the surgeons," she stated.

"I didn't even think about that..." Bruce said, looking at the others as the thought dawned on them after Pepper mentioned the issue.

Immediately, Clint tapped away on his phone. "I got it," he reassured, calling the surgeon knowing that F.R.I.D.A.Y would be able to open a line. "Hey, Marron, it's Clint...We have a spacecraft that's going to be taking off...the sound waves will shake the building..." Rhodey and Steve stopped pacing, standing with arms crossed. Everybody tried to keep to their own business, but it was difficult not to wonder how the surgery was going. "Okay, perfect..." The Archer submitted before asserting to Nebula and Rocket, "Rocket, Nebula, they'll stop in five minutes. That'll give you your window."

"Great, thanks," Rocket affirmed, understanding they had to be haste for Tony's sake, "We'll be seeing you."

"Good luck," the super-soldier inserted.

"Same to you," Rocket bid farewell as he and Nebula finally left.

Still on the phone with the surgeon, Clint said, "Yeah, I'll stay on the line until they've cleared the grounds." Getting up, Clint wandered off a bit from the rest of the group so he could see the Benatar from the windows. It wasn't raining as badly as it was before, but the visibility was greatly diminished. The Avengers watched him, curious if Clint was going to ask about the surgery at some point, but Hawkeye said no word of it. Maybe he was scared to know, like they all were...Once the five minutes had passed, the Benatar's thrusters lite up in the dark. The grounds vibrated and there was a simmering roar as the ship was piloted from the Earth. "Marron, they're clear," Clint finally voiced when the building went still and the Benatar was out of sight. The Archer was about to end the call as he walked back to his teammates, but he halted and intently listened. He glanced at Pepper and closed with, "Okay...thanks for letting me know."

Ending the call, Clint sighed. "Did he say something?" Natasha asked, undoubtedly knowing that Marron had mentioned something about Tony.

The Avenger shook his head, "Just that it'll be several more hours."

* * *

A 'several more hours' went past four, then five, then six, and then hour seven...the time was 6:47 a.m. Every fiber of their being shook with exhaustion and even if it was sunrise, a thick wall of fog acted as a barricade. The rays of sun suffocated and for the sixth day after the Snap, there was still no birds to sing a morning tune. Most of the team had slept on and off, but most of them were half awake currently and dazing off or resting their eyes. They were anxious, having been sitting and waiting for over seven hours, but finally, Marron came in wearing blue scrubs. Pepper perked up the moment she saw him. The surgeon achingly walked and it was quite clear how burnt out he was from performing surgery for nearly eight hours. Steve was in the kitchen, meaning to re-fill the coffee pot and hot water, but he abandoned the task as the rest of the team roused and paid attention to Marron. While Steve stood beside Natasha's chair to hear what Marron had to say, the surgeon rested on the arm of the couch Pepper sat on. Once he was settled, he spoke, "Alright...well, first I'd like to say that Tony made it through the surgery. Once we got in, the damage was...severe. Perhaps it wasn't as bad when the injuries first occurred, I mean it was critical to begin with, but going for five days without medical help made it much worse. That's nobody's fault, there was no help available, but you guys did a great job keeping Tony going until you were able to find help. The scans didn't tell us everything, though, so we had to do some exploratory surgery to make sure whatever additional damage there was, we could repair it. Over the course of the entirety of the surgery, there were some serious complications that happened and leaves the next twenty-four hours critical," Marron gently said, which was not what the team wanted to hear. Pepper dug her face in her hand, trying not to cry. At least Tony was alive...right? That wasn't good enough, they needed Tony to be  _okay_.

Natasha reached Pepper first, leaving her chair to sit next to Tony's fiancee and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What kind of complications are you talking about?" Bruce hated asking, but they needed to know what was going on.

Marron sighed, cautiously proceeding, "First of all, by getting in there and seeing the damage, whatever blunt trauma Tony went through, it left fractures on ribs four, five, and six on his right side and caused severe lung bruising which has led to fluid and blood build up in the right lung. The best option was to leave it alone because oxygen can help heal that and the fractures weren't bad enough that we had to surgically intervene. On the left side, I believe the blunt trauma broke ribs six and seven, but the left lung was undamaged. However, the sword sliced through at a downward angle. It resulted in damage to the coastal cartilage of ribs six and seven on the left side of Tony's rib cage, which led to further breakage; that damage we had to intervene using plating and screws to repair it. The sword damaged several organs in that region, and embedded debris or shrapnel from the suit into the wound. Even if the sword didn't hit surrounding organs like the liver, the debris from the suit got pushed and moved enough that it caused small lacerations and bleeding to the liver's left lobe. Some debris got lodged near his intestines...there was debris in his stomach. Other debris caused bleeding near his spleen and pieces made it through his diaphragm and into the chest cavity where it caused mild bleeding to the outside of his left lung. So, that was very serious and it took a long time to locate and pull out all of the debris." The Avengers painfully listened, not interrupting as Marron continued with the grim and frank story, "There were multiple times when the bleeding got out of control, we had Tony on several transfusions to keep up with the blood loss, but...at one point there was too much blood in the chest cavity, it built up enough pressure that it caused Tony's left lung to collapse."

In developing dismay and shocked, Pepper had to rethink this news several times. Marron had just said Tony's left lung was undamaged aside from the outside cuts; it was Tony's right lung that was at risk for collapse...but it was the healthy lung that wasn't working...Processing this information made Pepper go pale and she could see the contagion of it on Steve's face, then Bruce's, and so on, and so on... "Is it working now?" Rhodey swallowed from the dry of his throat as he tried steadying himself.

"Currently, no," Marron hesitantly replied, "That's not all..." The heroes braced themselves, expecting the worst to come. "When we got in, we found out that...the sword nearly sliced the left kidney in half." By the way Marron was talking, Pepper could almost predict what was next..."It got cut off from the blood flow long enough that it was no longer functioning, so we had to remove it...I'm sorry...there was nothing we could do to save it," Marron was sympathetic as he watched Pepper struggling to keep herself from going over the edge and shattering into pieces. Natasha was squeezing Pepper's shoulder, hoping to calm her down, but it was a rough situation for the Avengers themselves. "Overall, this was a very long and delicate surgery, and exceedingly invasive. Right now, I...I do have him sedated and he's connected to a ventilator. I know that's hard to hear, but it's necessary until he shows improvement and his left lung starts working again. It'll also give Tony's body a much-needed break and a chance to start healing and getting stronger without straining it...I...unfortunately, I still can't promise anything. Tony's still in the woods from the risk of his right lung collapsing. If that happens while his left lung is down, there won't be anything I can do. Until the lungs show improvement, I can't determine anything...I would like Tony to rest for a few hours before you go see him. That'll allow everyone to get some sleep and recuperate, including the other doctors, but I'll be awake monitoring him for the next few hours. Alright?" Marron finished, looking thirsty from all the talking.

The load of overwhelming information was snagging on the Avengers. Pepper still had her face buried in one of her hands. "Thank you for doing the surgery, Daniel," Steve forced himself to acknowledge, still wrapping his head around the gut-wrenching news about Tony.

"Thank you, but...maybe we should save the thanking for when Tony wakes up," Marron returned, pushing himself off of the couch arm. Nobody said anything against the comment. They were grateful to Marron, Ramsy, and the other doctors, but the Avengers were too tired to argue about the surgeon being too hard on himself; because of them, Tony would recover if his lung held through. It was still a gamble, but a better leap of faith than eight hours ago.

"There are plenty of extra rooms, if you and the other doctors need a place to rest. Feel free to use the showers and the kitchen," Rhodey offered, knowing Pepper would've given the surgeons housing, but she couldn't, she was still too shaken.

"How long are you planning on staying?" Natasha wondered, looking at Marron for an answer.

"If Tony pulls through and wakes up, we'll send the other three doctors home, but Ramsy, his doctor, and I will be staying until Tony is situated, he's healing properly, and can get around on his own," Marron reassured.

Relief was at about fifty percent, but it was all up to Tony if that relief was going to double to a hundred percent. "I know you didn't want to be thanked, but thank you," Steve repeated.

"Yeah, this is much appreciated," Rhodey second.

Itching at his reddened eyes, Marron could no longer hide how tired he was. "Well, I'll leave you guys to it, then. You can take a somewhat deep breath now and get some rest," he insisted to the superhero team, watching as they could hardly stand from the gruesome night.

"Same to you," Clint nodded and waved as Marron headed back in the direction of the infirmary.

When Marron was gone, Pepper broke out in tears. "Oh my god..." she cried for Tony, "...he's hurt  _so_  bad..."

It was discomforting watching Pepper cry, but she was merely expressing something they were all feeling. They didn't try stopping her from crying; sometimes it was something that was needed to be done to feel better. "Yeah, he is..." Bruce sadly agreed, not knowing what else to do. Tony was in serious trouble and even if he survived, it would be a harsh recovery.

From the heavy toll the night into morning brought...Steve started to feel a needle of guilt pinning his heart, but it was sewing into something greater. Maybe if Steve had gone with Tony to Titan...would this still have happened? Was there anything that could've been done? But it was already too late and the super soldier was beginning to resent a part of himself for that. He was ready to open his mouth and apologize to Pepper for not being there for Tony when he needed the Avengers, but her phone started to ring. It was probably the worst time to do so, but Pepper got up and walked off slightly from the group while greeting, "Hello? Yes, this is she..." At first Pepper was pacing, but she stopped and looked  _angry_. It was a rare sight to see Pepper fume. "Let me just stop you right there, this is not the best time to be calling me. We'll have to discuss this later." Natasha, Steve, Bruce, Rhodey, Clint, and Thor looked at each, starting to get a bad feeling as Pepper slowly raised her voice. "That's none of your business. Whether they are or aren't, we aren't available right now, you'll have to wait." Pepper crossed her arms as she continued holding the phone to her ear, pivoting away from the others, agitated, "Tony Stark just got out of major surgery, so no, he won't be. I told you we'll discuss this later, meaning we are the ones who will call you. Do you understand? I'm about to hang up on you...I understand the matter of the crisis, but you're going to have to wait a few hours. That is my compromise," Pepper said, hanging up with a stressful huff.

"Who was it?" Clint pondered, having some gnawing inkling that might hurt his ears.

Turning to face the Avengers, Pepper wiped away the dried tears on her cheeks. "Um..." she trailed off before finding her ground again, "That was a representative from the World Security Council and the United Nations. Whoever's left wants to speak to the Avengers about the Snap and what the plan is."

That made the Avengers cringe.


	7. War Paints

Given the chance to welcome the comforts of sleep after the fright of the night was relieving, but complete rest seemed out of reach. Even if there was a moment of deep sleep, it was full of nightmares. At 11:45 a.m. Natasha laid her bed, watching the morning breeze brush against the curtains from the open window. A refreshing draft of spring drifted while light sprinkles of the rain pattered against the Earth. She was tired, but after waking up, she couldn't fall back to sleep, her body wouldn't let her. It had only been about five hours, and whether how much her mind was up, the exhaustion of the week and a lingering soreness from the Wakanda battle forced her to stay where she was. Natasha didn't want to get up, but it made her wonder if the others were having trouble sleeping.  _Probably_.

Sliding out of bed, Natasha only bothered to put on a sweatshirt in accordance with her pajama bottoms. She left her quarters, finding her way to Clint's room, but the room was empty. Without a doubt, she figured that the Archer wasn't sleeping and was spot on when she located him in the shooting range. Natasha quietly leaned against the wall, watching her teammate ripping through the targets with his arrows to release his rage. Halfway through, he switched to knives, which Natasha thought unusual. Assassins were trained with all weapons, but Clint never let go of that bow  _ever_. It had been about twenty minutes before Clint finally went to collect all the weapons stuck in the targets or behind the targets to realize he had an audience with Natasha, who now sat with her back against the wall. "Hey," he said while fixing an arrowhead.

"Hey," Natasha replied.

"I keep forgetting what a nice training facility and shooting range the Compound has," Clint admitted, briefly looking beyond the windows to see the untouched fields and trees; meant for the wildlife that was no longer there.

"Yeah, you missed out on a few things after you retired," the Widow agreed, getting to her feet and nearing Clint, "Sometimes there's deer that come out on the property." Natasha gazed out the window, but then glanced at Clint with a somber smile, "But retirement gave you more time with your family." She didn't say anymore after that, seeing him stare out at the view and eventually yielding to a trembling chin. The pain turned to a severe and deadly resentment, though.

"We have to kill that son of a bitch," Clint hissed, desperate to control his emotions, but he was failing. Hawkeye's entire world was torn apart. It made Natasha worry about her friends' sanity, but what about her own as well? The Barton's had always welcomed Natasha with open arms and made her feel a part of the family. She lost that too...and the growing family she had with the Avengers, part of that was stripped away also.

"We will," Natasha promised wholeheartedly, knowing they  _all_  needed revenge, gently noting, "We have to take care of things at home first, though."

Disgusted, Clint sneered, "Screw the Council and the U.N.," while walking away and placing the weapons on a belt. This belt secured the weapons and organized them back where they belonged.

"I don't like them either, none of us do, but they at least deserve to know what's going on, right?" Even with what the Council and the U.N. put the Avengers through, Natasha tried defending them at least for being human, "They're a part of this world too, aren't they?"

"This world shouldn't belong to scumbags," Clint retorted, his back to her.

Natasha honestly didn't feel like arguing, so she simply sighed and walked towards the exit of the range. "Alright," she said, "I'm going to get some breakfast if you want to join me."

Not thinking he would respond with his current bitterness, Clint apologetically called to her, "I'll be in the kitchen shortly, okay?"

Avoiding a reply, Natasha kept walking and left the range, where she walked through the Compound until she reached one of the kitchens. The surgeon, Ramsy, along with a woman and a man sat at the island counter eating eggs, toast, and fruit. If she remembered correctly, these two doctors were Shelby and Caden. From afar, it looked like they were in a deep conversation. Natasha caught their eye, though. "Good morning," Ramsy greeted. Natasha never got a good look at him previously, but he looked like he was in his fifties.

"Good morning," Natasha complied, hoping to be generous since the Compound was the most of a home she had ever had. That meant she was a host, right? "Did you sleep well?" They were hogging the pot of coffee, still weary from the long night.

"As best we could. This whole Snap really impacted nearly every life, everybody here has lost friends or family," Ramsy said, hinting at what he and the doctors were talking about.

"I'm sorry," Natasha was sympathetic, acknowledging the strength it took to abandon their losses and focus on helping people and saving lives. "Thank you for coming out here despite the situation. I know it probably wasn't easy."

"We're just hoping you're somehow able to fix all this," the woman, Shelby, commented sincerely.

"We're going to do what we can," Natasha reassured, suddenly lost in a moment and wondering if that was ever going to be true.

Very kindly, Ramsy asserted, "Well, know that we have faith in you and your team." Natasha surprisingly felt some comfort from those supporting words. The world was so divided at whether the Avengers was a good thing or a bad thing that it was refreshing when the team's work received praise.

"Thank you," she graciously said, reflecting on all the good and bad the Avengers had gone through. All the rights and wrongs, but here they all were.

"I hope you guys at least got some decent sleep last night," Ramsy reciprocated, breaking the Avenger from her train of thought. "I saw a few of your teammates moping around, but you're the first one to reach the kitchen."

Clearing her throat, Natasha explained, "I think tonight was a bit better, but I think we're all still trying to process everything that's happened in the last week."

With an empty plate, Ramsy got up to clean the pots and pans that the doctors had used. While he ran the water, he announced, "Well, just to let you know, Tony's left lung began working again. It recovered a lot faster than we suspected, which is a very good thing." Pausing his chores, Ramsy looked over his shoulder at Natasha, who had directed her attention at him.

"He's off the ventilator, then?" Natasha asked, prying for good news.

"Yeah," the surgeon answered, after turning off the water and drying his hands with a towel, "I hope that's one less thing you have to worry about now."

It definitely was one less thing to worry about, but her thoughts were no longer on the surgeon or the doctors. "Thank you," the assassin said, now meaning to find Pepper. She began backing away and not in any way to be rude, bid farewell, "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." Giving a respectable nod to Ramsy, Shelby, and Caden, Natasha left the premise of the kitchen and advanced down the hallway. If Pepper hadn't known, then she'd be happy to hear.

"Hey, where you going?" The voice came from Clint, making Natasha halt and turn towards the adjacent hallway the Archer was coming from.

"To go talk to Pepper," Natasha informed, deciding to spread the news, "Ramsy told me Tony's lung is working again, so he's doing a little better."

This phased him. "Oh, good," Clint said, although his mind was still elsewhere on his family. He was pretty out of it himself and told, "While you do that, then, I'll be waiting in the kitchen, okay?"

"Alright, I'll be back," Natasha finished quickly, letting Clint continue on as she found her way to Stark's quarters, but Pepper wasn't there. At first, Natasha thought that Pepper might not know, but if the CEO was having a night like the rest of them, then she probably hardly slept. The call was right though as Natasha approached the entrance to a hospital room and past the glass windows, she could see Pepper sitting beside Tony in a chair. Tony, of course, was unconscious. There were wires everywhere, accompanying the IV and the oxygen mask. It was nearly the same state the Avengers had seen Tony in before he went into surgery. At least he was breathing on his own, though, and his skin tone didn't look quite as pale as it did before. Pepper leisurely sat in the chair, working on her laptop.

Seeing Natasha out of the corner of her eye, Pepper gazed up from her laptop at the visitor. "Hey, Natasha," Pepper welcomed as Natasha leaned against the doorframe.

"I heard Tony's doing a bit better," Natasha murmured, glancing from Pepper to Tony and back again.

Pepper followed Natasha's gaze on Tony, in which she did look less stressed than before. "Yeah, the doctors mostly got the infection under control and the rest of the bleeding has stopped," Pepper apprised rather relaxed, shifting her eyes back on Natasha. "They're just waiting for the right lung to heal a bit more, but Marron and Ramsy say Tony's healing well." The extent of Tony's injuries was overwhelming, but Natasha could tell the major relief Pepper was sailing in, knowing that Tony was gradually healing.

"I'm sure he'll be back on his feet soon, then," Natasha declared thoughtfully and Pepper looked appreciative at the gesture, "Is there anything I can get you, Pepper?"

"No, I'm okay, but thank you for asking," Pepper replied warmly.

For once in six days, Pepper looked content just peacefully sitting there in the quiet, but Natasha didn't want to disturb that. "Pepper, we'll take care of the Council and the U.N if you need to stay here," the Widow suggested, crossing her arms over her chest, "It won't be a problem, we've faced much worse. We may be there for a day or two, maybe more, and I'm sure Tony would want you here when he wakes up."

Natasha thought Pepper appeared relieved that the Avenger brought up the subject. For a while she watched Tony, considering her options. "I would like to stay here," Pepper specified, wanting to remain at the Compound when Tony woke up.

"Then stay here," Natasha gingerly encouraged, releasing her arms from the folded position against her chest.

"Don't let them tear you apart," Pepper fortified, wishing she could go with the Avengers to advocate for them. The Council and the U.N. wanted Tony to be there as well, but that was impossible at the moment.

"We won't," Natasha grounded, pushing herself upright from the wall. "We'll get ourselves debriefed, and let you know when we head out."

"Thank you," Pepper said gratefully.

"Of course," she replied, and after taking one last glance at Tony, she left the infirmary, allowing Pepper to get back to her work.

* * *

**SPACE**

A few jumps were needed to reach the distress signal and when they did, the Xandarian Spacecraft was blacked-out and adrift amidst the stars. Rocket grimaced, spotting the damage of the spacecraft, most likely obtained during the evacuation from Xandar. It was unclear whether or not the passengers on board were still alive considering how small the spacecraft was. The design of it definitely wasn't meant for long-time travel like the Benatar and it had nearly been two weeks since Xandar was decimated. After exchanging an unnerving look with Nebula, Rocket had the ship scan the Xandarian Spacecraft to get an identification number off of it. "Xandarian Spacecraft RJ-135, this is Rocket and Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy. Can you respond?" The Guardian incited, hoping there'd at least be someone.

"Rocket, my name Kavana. We are here," A female Xandarian answered, which made Rocket's ears perk. "We only have five survivors."

"Understood," Rocket responded, although that news made him realize there might have been more survivors before the Snap, "Your ship is out of fuel, correct?"

The woman confirmed, "Yes."

Once that information had been solidified, Rocket aimed a tether at the Xandarian Spacecraft and launched it into the ship's side. "You'll have to transfer over to our ship and we'll take you to Contraxia. A lot of refugees are meeting on that planet," Rocket said while using the Benatar's systems to reel the Xandarian Spacecraft closer. "Do you have any spacesuits?"

"Yeah," Kavana said, to which Nebula went to open the dock. When she did, Rocket went there in case any of the passengers were injured, not that there was much that he could do. Watching from beyond that barrier that kept the oxygen on the ship, Nebula and Rocket could see the two adults, along with a girl about fourteen years of age, and two boys that looked eight and six. They were on the ramp of the spacecraft with the spacesuit devices on their chests. The kids were  _terrified_ , though, thinking they would fall as soon as they stepped off the ledge. One of the boys even started to panic and began crying. Rocket didn't even know if they were family, but eventually, they just told the kids to close their eyes and not look down. It dawned on Rocket to go help them, but finally, the five of them went together and made it onto the Benatar. Once the doors were shut and oxygen had been readministered to that compartment, the Xandarians took off the spacesuits and the barrier dividing that Guardians from them came down.

"Thanks for rescuing us," the Xandarian man said, catching his breath after the tantalizing spacewalk. At a closer look, despite the dim lighting, there was dirt and ash on their faces and clothing, then finished off with specks of blood. They had escaped a warzone.

The children still looked pretty freaked out as they tried wiping their tears, except the teenager who stayed mute. "Yeah...I'm sorry to hear about Xandar," Rocket consoled, coaxing the group to sit down as he truistically felt the gravity of the loss. The two adults sat with the two boys between them, but the girl sat off by herself.

Kavana and the Xandarian man held some gratitude from the raccoon's condolences, "He just..." The man trailed off when his eyes fell on Nebula. "What the hell is she doing here?!" Standing up so the kids were behind him, he increasing became angry and defensive, savagely pointing at Nebula, knowing that she had helped Ronin and nearly succeeded in wiping out Xandar the first time. Kavana was quick to the man's side, not having any fondness for Nebula either, considering her reputation was still a stain on this existence.

Stepping out in front of Nebula to prove her worth, Rocket remarked, "No, no! She's fine, she's with me." It was something that was hard to believe, he understood, but Nebula was no longer a villain.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Nebula mumbled, suddenly looking shunned with shame.

"It's a little late for that after what you're father did," the man scowled, not in a forgiving mood after what they experienced on Xandar. A hollow look conceded in the man's eyes as he reminisced the horror. "He just...they slaughtered everything...the things they were doing to people..." he hoarsely whispered, and Rocket knew exactly what he was talking about. Thanos' and his army did horrendous, unspeakable things in their acts of violence. It was always a bloody, gruesome scene that was left behind, especially if the Outriders came along; seeing mangled bodies, torn limbs, corpses with flesh missing or pieces of it being eaten by the deviled beasts. Rocket could almost see it in their eyes as the children stared off, traumatized for life.

"There were ten of us on that ship during the evacuation, but then...my daughter turned to dust and Nefy's brother turned to dust," Kavana's voice cracked from the weight of coming to terms with what they witnessed, and it confirmed Rocket's suspicions that these survivors weren't family. She continued, gesturing to the girl, "And that young girl, Melly, her sister went...then the rest of them...He did this, didn't he," the woman questioned, barely able to control her hysteria. "Didn't he?!" She demanded, breaking into a demeaning scream, "Why didn't you stop him!" That's when the crying started, but Rocket couldn't take anymore. He already felt horrible as it was, but now his ears were ringing over and over with this lasting stench of failure.

"That's enough," Rocket snipped, holding his ground as he turned his back to the Xandarians, saying, "We're taking you to Contraxia. You'll be safe there and most likely find transportation."

Nebula followed Rocket, sitting with him in the cockpit as the tether between the Benatar and the Xandarian Spacecraft burned away. As he started up the thrusters and input the coordinates to Contraxia, a familiar voice came over the radio. "Quill, is that you?" A smile almost broke out on Rocket's face as he gawked to the left of the ship where a Ravager ship was approaching.

"Kraglin!" Rocket exclaimed, unbelievably happy to hear from the Ravager. He assumed Kraglin was responding to the distress call as well.

"Rocket?" Kraglin replied, almost in the exact joyful manner, although he sounded a little scared, "Man, it's good to hear from you. I thought you guys were gone. What the hell happened?" The fact Kraglin didn't realize that the other Guardians weren't here made Rocket shut his mouth. He had to tell his friend that their friends were dead...When had he ever had to do that? "Rocket?" The Ravager prodded, getting cynical off of Rocket's vibe.

"They're all gone, Kraglin..." The Guardian hesitantly said, shutting his eyes and cringing as he forced the painful words off of his tongue, "It's just me and Nebula."

There was a long pause. "I don't understand..." Kraglin croaked.

"We're taking these Xandarians to Contraxia, Kraglin," Rocket advised, not wanting Kraglin to go off alone. If the rest of the universe was having trouble figuring out what happened, Rocket could at least throw them a bone. "Why don't you come along and we'll talk about what happened."

Several despondent moments passed before Kraglin said, "Okay." With that, the Ravager turned his ship around and followed the Benatar to the nearest jump point.

* * *

"So, Thanos got all the stones?" Kraglin mimicked what Rocket had told him. The group was sitting with Kraglin between Nebula and Rocket at a very, overly packed bar considering the Snap, but then again Contraxia was full of alcoholics and alcohol was what they were taught to go to ease the pain. Every customer was trying to forget what had happened by getting drunk, making new friends, and laughing, but deep down the pain was shredding their souls. To lose mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and friends, whether blood-related or not. It was thrash and a harsh change of reality.

"Yeah, and snapped his friggin' fingers," Rocket mumbled as he sipped from his beverage, "Killed half the universe."

Killing half the universe...Rocket without a doubt deserved the drink after all that. "Why?" Kraglin pondered, legitimately confused at the reasoning Thanos had for doing so.

"He's a maniac," Nebula submitted dryly, clinging to a large drink as well.

Listening to the background noise of the bar for a short while and further processing the drastic news, Kraglin fixed his gaze on Rocket. "Are you going after him?" Kraglin asked, skeptically interested.

Gritting his teeth and recoiling at the thought of facing Thanos, Rocket shrugged, "Eh...maybe, if we find a way, but he's still got all those stones." If someone hadn't experienced the power of an infinity stone, it was difficult to grasp the concept of retrieving them back. Technically, the Ravagers indirectly dealt with the Power Stone via the battle with Ronan, but it wasn't up close and personal like the Guardians and the Avengers had seen. For now, Rocket was nowhere near wanting to deal with Thanos, not until there was a logical way to get the stones. Rocket diverted the subject, "Plus, we're mostly just doing rescues right now and trying to find some missing Asgardians."

This caught Kraglin's attention and he raised his brow. "Asgardians?" He thought out loud.

Not much talk of the Asgardians ever spread around, but Kraglin narrowed his eyes as if he was thinking. "You know of any?" Rocket quipped while Kraglin titled his head back and sucked down the rest of his drink.

He shook his head, "No." Upon receiving a refill from the bartender, Kraglin hinted, "But that crazy old lady by the wasteland, I think she mentioned something about some Asgardians."

"Really?!" Rocket felt a little more hopeful at the potential lead.

Kraglin nodded, but suddenly remembered something and added quickly, "Oh, yeah, and there was some weird cosmic energy that was picked up a few days ago."

The mood went glum when Kraglin mentioned the Snap again. There was nowhere to escape from it. "Yeah, from Terra?" Rocket chimed, meaning to clarify, "That was the stones."

Confusion piled on Kraglin and he corrected, "No, this was only like two or three days ago."

Both Rocket and Nebula looked at Kraglin, unexpectedly dumbstruck as well. "Huh?" Rocket expressed, unsure if Kraglin had his facts straight. Obviously, Rocket knew he, himself, wasn't wrong. He had seen Thanos snap his fingers.

"It wasn't from Terra?" Nebula asked, scrambled by this mystery.

"Oh, no," Kraglin was confident in his answer, "This was from a different planet."

If what Kraglin was saying turned out to be true, the consequences of that cosmic dispersion wasn't going to be pretty. "Can you show us?" Nebula pressed, standing up from the barstool. Kraglin didn't argue and gladly led them out of the bar, through the industrial arctic of Contraxia, and to a transmission tower. The tower functioned out of an old, rusty rocket and a door was cut out in the side of the paneling where it laid down like a drawbridge. The tower had heaters blasting to turn away the bitter cold and the warmth did feel wonderful after Rocket saw the tips of his fur beginning to freeze.

A woman sat at the control panel, keeping up with the communication systems between planets and travelers out in space. "Hey, Kara, remember that weird cosmic dispersion a few days ago?" Kraglin quipped as the trio walked onto the ship, making the woman swivel around in her chair upon hearing them approach. The Ravager smiled at her, indicating to Rocket and Nebula, "Do you mind showing my friends here? They're with the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"Yeah, sure," Kara politely nodded, fixating herself forward to the control panel where she searched for what they were meaning to see. "It was this planet here," she said and both Nebula and Rocket narrowed their eyes when the hologram of the planet appeared.

"The Garden," Nebula stated, revelating, "He used the stones again."

Alarm crossed Rocket's face. "For what?" He asked himself, figuring that Nebula wouldn't know any more than he did.

"I'm not sure," she responded as Rocket suspected.

"Rocket, I gotta say," Kraglin input with a determined look on his face, "If you're going out for revenge, I'll be glad to come."

Rocket understood the extent of the pain the universe was enduring, but he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to put any more friends in danger. He couldn't do that to Kraglin. "You don't have to," Rocket uttered, offering Kraglin a chance to stay out of a very deadly situation.

Not looking at Rocket, Kraglin proceeded to eye the holographic planet. "I've watched too many of my friends die," Kraglin hesitantly said, biting his lip as he forcefully reflected on his past actions. The thought of it ate at him and Kraglin seemed ready to do anything to set things right and make amends after Yondu was gone. "Go ahead and find your Asgardians, I'll find enough people and we'll get this planet staked-out. We have to do something." The Ravager wasn't wrong about that.

"Thank you, Kraglin," Rocket sighed honestly. There was no way to prevent Kraglin from trying if he was going to go through with this plan. "Just wait for us if you plan on engaging. We've got some pretty capable Terrans that would like a bite as well, and if we find more Asgardians, I bet they'll lend a big helping hand," he incriminated in a serious tone because Thanos and his army...that was suicide going alone. An eerie chill rattled Rocket's bones just at the idea of having to face the Mad Titan again.

Cooperating, Kraglin glanced at the Guardian, replying, "If we get all the stones back, we'll be able to bring everyone back, right?" Rocket didn't speak, only gave a firm nod. They need those stones. "Then we'll be waiting for you at the Garden," Kraglin pervaded reassuringly.

"Sounds like a plan," Rocket said after an agreeing glance with Nebula, who was up to the task. "Get your war paint on," he relinquished, starting to feel his fur prickle nervously from the impending intimidation of the mission; fearing not only for his life, but for the rest of his friends that still lived. It was like what Yondu said, that Rocket was the most scared of them all. That quotation was ironically accurate in Rocket's opinion, or it used to be; there were a lot of people that were scared now, left wondering what Thanos' next move was.

"I'll need a lot of war paint, then," Kraglin countered with more playfulness, talking to Rocket's back as he and Nebula began walking to the tower's exit.

"I'm sure the crazy old lady by the wasteland will know something," Rocket smirked, gazing over his shoulder at Kraglin in a wishing manner, hoping the Ravager would still be alive the next time the Guardians' saw him. "See ya, pal. This ain't over yet."


End file.
